Once again, it's so wonderful
to be here. I enjoy my time with you so much. I had an older brother
that was asked to go to, well, it was his checkup. He went in
to have his medical checkup, and the doctor asked him a question.
And the question was, what day of the week is it? And he said,
Saturday. And it wasn't Saturday. So after
some more discussion, he had his driver's license taken away
from him, and it took a while for him to get him back. And
he told me, Norm, since I've retired, every day is Saturday.
And, you know, I'm beginning to feel that, except for one
day a week. That's this day. I just appreciate
this day so much to get together in fellowship. If you would,
join me in the Book of Acts again. We're in the Book of Acts, and
as we go through here, it's just a marvel. It's what the Lord
has laid out for us, for us to see here in this Book of Acts. We have got a little acquainted
with a brother. His name is Stephen. Now, it
appears that Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew or a Grecian Jew, a Jew that
had Greek heritage. And he had been chosen by the
church to help with some problems that had arose, and that was
some of the Grecian widows were not being taken care of as they
should have been. So he's one of the seven that
has been chosen to help with that issue. And? His qualifications,
as well as with the rest of them, were that it must have a holiness. And he was filled with the Holy
Spirit and with power. And that's what we find that
the rest of them had. That was some of the qualifications. As
we went through there, we noticed that it wasn't so much whether
they could run a soup kitchen. It wasn't so much whether they
had political pull. It wasn't so much whether they
had business background. It was how were they with Christ. That was the most important thing.
And that is how he was chosen. He had exemplified those qualities
in talking to people. He was not afraid to talk about
the great truths of the Bible. And one day he is out preaching,
and he is arrested. And as the words declare in the
original language, it was not a very gentle arrest. They got
a hold of him and pulled him before the council, the Sanhedrin
court. And not only did they do that,
but they hired some people to lie about him. and to tell the
council that he had been preaching things that were not right. They
suborned men to lie about Stephen. Now they had been in debate with
him and they could not overpower his words. He was a Hellenistic
Jew that knew the word of God. He, in chapter 7, is going to
tell us how much he knew about the Word of God. He could go
back through the Scriptures and declare Jesus Christ throughout
the entire Bible, and that's what he did. Now, that's why
they bring these accusations against him. Last week, we looked
at two of the accusations, and they brought against him was
blasphemous words against Moses. And you know, all he did was
say what Christ said and what Moses said over in the book of
Deuteronomy. It tells us there that Moses
said, God's going to raise up a prophet similar to me, but
him you will hear. And Christ brings that very same
subject up. And I am convinced that that
is what Stephen spoke about, too, when he talked about Moses. Moses was not the fulfillment
of the gospel. This one he spoke about is Jesus
Christ is the gospel personified. And then we find out that he
had blasphemous words against God. Well, what could that mean? You know what Stephen taught
about Jesus Christ? He is God. He reflected John
1, verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. This is God in the flesh. He came just like He had been
promised throughout the Old Testament, and He came and fulfilled the
law. He declared the gospel in His
pureness and His truthfulness, and he went to the cross to pay
the sin debt of his people. So when he talked about Jesus
Christ being God, he had good authority to do that. Well, it
didn't fit the religion of the Pharisees or the Sadducees. They
were steeped in their religion, and it was only the grace of
God that would ever release them from that steepedness. We have
one person, very famous in the New Testament, that was steeped
in that. In fact, we're going to find
him in the book of Acts chapter 7 for the first time. His name
is Saul, and he's from Tarsus. And he's the one that They put
their coats around when he consented to the death of Stephen. So,
he's one that is steeped in that law, he's steeped in that religion,
and yet by the grace of God, God calls him out of that religion
and points him to Christ. Well, as we look here in the
book of Acts chapter 6, just very briefly, I'd like to look
at the last two accusations that were brought against him as he
stood before this council. Now he is going to be given the
grace by the council because God had his finger in this. He's
going to be given the grace to answer for those accusations. In fact, the leader of the council
is going to ask, are these things true? And gave him an opportunity
to speak. Well, that's what we have in
chapter 7. But before we get there, we find that Stephen was
accused that this man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words
against this holy place. Now the council was meeting very
close to the temple. It was a very important building
in Jerusalem at that time. But Stephen had been preaching
out there that this building is going to be destroyed. You
know why? Jesus Christ preached that. He said, you look at this
beautiful building. And there's a day coming, and
it's going to come very shortly, that there will not be one stone
left upon another. The usefulness of this building
is over when Jesus Christ went to the cross and cried, it is
finished. The usefulness of the temple
was finished. We find that that great veil
that covered up the Holy of Holies was rented to from top to bottom. And it was just opened up. God
was saying, I'm through with this place. You know, there are
so many that have the idea that national Israel still has that
place. But God, as Stephen would bring
up, he said, no, no, no, it's the church. It's the church. It's the church. Those who have
a relationship with Jesus Christ in the gospel, that's who God
is paying attention to. You know, it tells us in the
book of Hebrews, which is a quote from the Old Testament, that
they did not keep their agreement. They did not keep their part
of the covenant. There was an agreement made between
God and Israel, and they promised to keep what He requested of
them. He was working with them year
after year, century after century, and millennia after millennia,
and we find out, as God reveals to us, they did not keep that
covenant. And so God said, as it's recorded
in the book of Hebrews there, I believe it's in chapter 8 and
chapter 10 both. Turn with me, if you would, to
Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews 8, verse 7. In Hebrews 8, verse
7, and this is a quote from the Old Testament in the book of
Jeremiah. Here in Hebrews 8, verse 7, we
read these words. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, now here's the problem with that first covenant,
natural man cannot keep a holy law. Now, God only gives holy
laws. He doesn't give suggestions.
He gives holy law. And there's only one that can
keep holy law, and that's God. We, as fallen children of Adam,
dead in trespasses and sin, cannot approach holiness on ourselves.
We just can't get there from here. We're dead in trespasses
and sin. Sin drives us in every decision
that we make. We're unable to get out from
under the influence of sin on our own. Everything we do has
that connection. And then we find out when we
get into religion, we're asked to do things that a person that's
fallen and dead and trespasses in sin, it's impossible to do.
One of the things I was requested to do is have faith. Well, I
don't have perfect faith. I can't approach God by my faith. I'm so thankful, as we heard
this morning, He's the author and finisher of our faith. Well,
in Hebrews 8, verse 7, it says, For if the first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for a
second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days
come, saith the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the days when
I took them by the hand, and led them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them
not. I no longer have this special
relationship with them. The only reason that God protected
two tribes, one in particular was Judah, was that through that
line, the Savior, Jesus Christ, was coming into this world. And
when that took place, there was no need to have that relationship
with Israel, national Israel. The relationship that God has
is with spiritual Israel, with the church. Now, there are many
Jews that were in the spiritual church Paul brought out, and
I'm sure that Stephen was bringing out there some of this truth
too, and that's what caught their attention. He's talking about
people that are in a very special place with God that are not Jews,
and that just can't be. Well, they were trusting because
they were related to Abraham that they were okay. And Stephen
and Paul later, as he wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
was declaring, that's not how we are made believers. That is
not how we're made Christians by being related to Abraham in
the flesh. Now the true children of Abraham
is the church. Those are the ones that he redeemed
on the cross. Those are the ones that he causes
to believe in their lifetime. And so here it goes on to tell
us, And verse 10, for this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord. And we find in the New Testament,
and I believe Stephen was preaching this, that the church is spiritual
Israel. it's not a child or a descendant
of Abraham in the flesh, it's a descendant of Abraham in the
spirit. It goes on to say, I'll put my
laws within their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I'll
give them a God, and they shall be my people. Who's he talking
about there? That is what we get in the new
birth, regeneration We are given the words of God. He says, I'll put my laws into
their mind. You know what that means? It
means we believe the Bible. Doesn't mean we believe the Ten
Commandments is how we're going to be saved. When God speaks,
we say, yea and amen. Now, we may not understand it,
and most of the time we don't, but I'll tell you, every believer
will say, this is the Word of God. And I believe what it says
here. I believe what it says about
salvation. I believe what it says about God. I believe what
it says about sin. I believe what it says about
the word. I believe this because God has given that revelation
to me. Now far be it from me to say I understand it all or
I can explain it all to you. But this is the word of God.
And if it's not, we might as well go fishing. We have nothing
to talk about that's spiritual if this is not the word of God.
Well, it is, and he says, I'll put my law in their mind. I'll
give them the word and write them in their hearts, and I'll
be to them a God, and they shall be my people. And they shall
not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord. For all shall know me from the
least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness. Who is he merciful to in their
unrighteousness? The church. Only the church my
goodness when those ten spies came back out of the promised
land that we just read that Joshua led the children of Israel to
defeat All those people when they came back with the evil
report God says they shall they died in unbelief and So they
had no righteousness forgiven, or iniquities forgiven, and their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Then in that he saith
a new covenant he hath made the first old, now that which decayeth
and waxes old is ready to vanish. Well, we have three that made
a covenant before the world began. an agreement among themselves,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now that covenant
is sure and steadfast. That covenant was made in the
Godhead. They agreed among themselves. They agreed that they would take
care of a people. They would call it their church,
their assembly, those who would assemble at their feet in the
end days. this church, they would take
care of the needs of that church spiritually. It was a covenant
that was sure and steadfast. It was an everlasting covenant.
It fades not away. It's not marked by time. It's
not marked because you and I disobeyed it. Because it was a covenant
made by the Godhead. Now the covenant God made with
Israel, he made it with a bunch of men and women and boys and
girls. And they all agreed and said,
we will keep it. But you know what they did when
they said that? They lied to God. Just try to
keep the law of God. Take the Ten Commandments for
a moment and try to keep all of them for an hour. Now, it
deals with mind too. If your mind wanders away from
those things, then you're guilty. And if we are guilty of one point,
we're guilty of every point. So, it's not the law that leads
us to Christ. It is God that leads us to Christ. So, Here we have Stephen in front
of a whole host of people, 70 people, this great council, and
he is told, they tell him, you have been charged. You've been
charged with this travesty. Any blasphemy could be dealt
with by stoning to death. That was in the law. So they
had to have this rule, this blasphemous rule brought against him if they're
going to deal with him, as we find it was fulfilled there in
the seventh chapter of the book of Acts. So they brought blasphemy. They said he had blasphemous
words against Moses, against God, against the law, and this
place. And now as we go to the book
of Acts chapter 7. Join me there if you would as
he is asked this question in the book of Acts chapter 7. What a word he brings out here
in Acts chapter 7. He has a handle on God Almighty,
Christ Jesus the Lord, throughout the Old Testament passages. He is not quibbling over what
this is about. This is about God. This is about
Christ. This is about what Jesus Christ
told those two on the road to Emmaus, that all things contained
throughout the Old Testament declared the message of a Messiah
coming, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Him crucified. The pictures,
the types, and the shadows around the tabernacle and the temple
all declared Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So in Acts chapter
7, there in verse 1, the leader of the council, the high priest,
asked him this question. Here in the book of Acts, chapter
7 and verse 1. He said, Are these things so? Now it's by the providence of
God that the high priest had that question asked, and we have
the response in Acts chapter seven. I am convinced that there
were many martyrs that were brought before this council that never
got a hearing like Stephen got, that they were just taken out
after they were, what's it called, a kangaroo court. They just went
through the kangaroo court and they were dismissed by stoning
to death. But this one, Stephen, was given
a special place in the providence of God to give us a message that
we have here in Acts chapter 7 that gives us so much understanding
about the Old Testament and how it reflects on Christ. Another translation said, the
high priest asked, are these accusations true? In verse 2,
we have Stephen, and he mentions this in such I don't know how
I would react to a counsel that had just accused me of these
things and that the outcome of it was probably going to be my
death. I might be a little more sarcastic.
I might be a little more unkind. You guys have no reason, blah,
blah, blah. Well, here we have Stephen brought
out in verse 2, and he said, Men, brethren, fathers, Listen
to me. Listen to what I have to say.
Give an ear to the teaching or to the teacher. I have some very
important things to say to you. Out of respect, I will call you
men, brethren, and fathers." You know, when it comes to a
genealogy, they, he could say that with very good strength. We are all the children of Abraham. in the flesh. Now, it tells us
here, he goes back to Abraham, and he brings up a subject that's
not mentioned over in the book of Genesis, and it tells us there
in verse 2, read that with me, and he said, Men, brethren, and
fathers, listen to me. I want to say something to you.
The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was
in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Sharan." Now, Mesopotamia,
you know what nationality we would call Abraham today if we
met him? He was an Iraqi. He lived in
between the Tigris and Euphrates River. He was not a Jew. He was a pagan. and he was a pagan idolatrous
person. He had nothing that is very special
at all. Now, I'm sure he had money, but
that doesn't buy anything with God. We find out that the God
of glory appeared unto our father Abraham. Abraham was not looking
for Jehovah when Jehovah came down to Abraham. Abraham was
happy with his religion. It tells us there, turn with
me if you would over to that book that Brother Loren was in,
in the book of Joshua again, Joshua chapter 24. In Joshua
chapter 24, Joshua brings us to the truth about Abraham. He
understood this and so did Stephen. He understood where Abraham was
brought from. Abraham was an Iraqi. He was
a Mesopotamian. Now he is related to Noah. He's related to Adam, but he's
a pagan. In the book of Joshua, chapter
24, we read these words about Abraham. Now, Abraham is the
most special person in the mind of this council that is there
that he is talking to. In the book of Joshua, chapter
24, we find Joshua bringing up this subject, verse 1. Joshua
gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the
elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges,
and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood
in old time." Now, if you look at a number of translations,
dwelt on the other side of the Euphrates River. They dwelt in
Mesopotamia. They were there in what is modern
Iraq. Here we have, between the Tigris
and Euphrates River, a civilization that had developed, and this
man, Abraham. Now, it was Abram when God brought
him out of Ur of the Chaldees. His name is changed, just like
God gives a new name to every believer. That's what we read
about in the book of Revelation. We have been given a new name.
You know what that name is? It's recorded in the Old Testament.
The Lord our righteousness. That's the name we're given,
the Lord our righteousness. That's where our righteousness
is. Your fathers dwelt on the other side. Now, before you get
too high and mighty about how we have defeated all of these
people here in Canaan, before you get too high and mighty about
how you've done this, I want to remind you of something that
the person who is Abraham, then Isaac, and Jacob, and Esau, and
then the 12 tribes. Four generations back, I want
you to understand about our great-grandfather. I want you to take this to heart.
Don't think that there aren't some skeletons in your closet. There are some horse thieves
back there, if you please. It tells us here in verse two,
Joshua said, unto all the people, thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
your fathers dwelt in the other side of the flood in old time,
even Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nacor, and
they served other gods. They were idolatrous. Abraham
was born an idolatrous person. You know how I know that? Because
his mom and dad were. That's why I went to church and
why I went to a certain church, Little Town of New Pine Creek,
because my parents did. And why did they go? Because
my mother's parents went there. Now, there wasn't anything said
after you got there, but you went there because your parents
went there. And here we have They served
other gods. Now, if we did a little study
on Mesopotamia, you would find out it's a whole lot more than
one or two. They had so many deities down there. But you know
what? Nancy and I were in Ephesus not
too long ago, and I cannot tell you the number of temples that
have been unearthed in a very short area of Ephesus. You couldn't
go a half a block until there was another temple to some deity.
You know, the world is caught up just as Abraham was down in
Ur of the Chaldees by serving other gods. And it goes on to
tell us here, And I took your father Abraham from the other
side of the flood, and led them throughout all the land of Canaan,
and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. Who did this? The God of glory appeared unto
Abraham. Abraham was not, well, I hope
God comes today, or if I ask Jesus into my heart, it's going
to work for me today. God came down there at the appointed
time and found an appointed person that He had chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. and appeared to him in
a glorious manifestation as the Savior. He appeared unto him.
He was not some ragdoll God. He was the Almighty God, the
God of glory, the God of heaven, the God of faith, the God of
salvation, the God of gods. This is who appeared unto Abraham
down there. Now Abraham is probably on his
way to some temple when this happened. He is not going to
a prayer meeting about Jesus. He's not going to some meeting,
some revival meeting. He's doing what comes naturally
in his life. He is worshiping other gods. And the God of glory, that word
appeared, My goodness, what is in that word that the God of
glory would appear unto anyone? The God of heaven, the God of
glorious nature, the sovereign God of all would appear unto
anyone that would stop anyone in their tracks and cause anyone
to come to Him. I'm going to call Him out of
this place and you know what? He's coming. God impressed him so much, get
out of this place, and he did. Don't think for a moment that
God has done all he can do and now the rest is up to you. If
that had been the way that God was dealing with Abraham, Abraham
would have stayed where he was. But this God of glory had the
power in His voice. This same voice created the heavens
and the earth. This same voice created the solar
systems. This God created all things. This God created a man from the
dust of the earth. This God of glory made everything
that is around us. Here we have this God appearing
unto Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. Now what form He came? I cannot
tell you. But I know there are several
times in the Old Testament that God came down and spoke to His
people in a physical form before Jesus Christ was born of the
Virgin Mary. Then He came to Joshua and Joshua
said, Are you for us or are you against us? And he said, I am
the captain of the Lord's hosts. And you know what Joshua did?
He bowed down. He appeared unto Moses out of
a burning bush. What did Moses do? He bowed down. He appeared unto Noah. He appeared
unto others throughout the Old Testament. And here we have Him
appearing to someone in a far off land, Mesopotamia, out there
in the hinterlands. No good thing can come out of
Mesopotamia. All you have to do is look at
their theology and find out that they worship everything, creeping
things, heavenly bodies, individuals, anything there is possible. You
know what Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul ran into when he
was in Athens? Exactly the same thing. How many deities they had those
altars built to. Go to Rome. Go to any town, old
town, you'll find out how many deities they were bowing down
before. And you know, when the Apostle
Paul was dealing with that at Athens, he just brought out an
altar to an unknown God, and he said, let me tell you about
Him. the unknown God, the God of heaven,
the God of glory that appears unto His people in time. So the
God of glory appeared unto Abraham. This, as we read down through,
it says, and I took your father Abraham, and in verse four, and
I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau, and I gave unto Esau Mount Seir
to possess it, but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
I sent Moses, What is this? God saying, I sent them, I sent
them, I sent them. I plagued Egypt according to
that which I did among them. And afterward, I brought you
out, and I brought your fathers out of Egypt. And you came unto
the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots
and horsemen, under the Red Sea. And when they cried unto the
Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought
the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes have seen
what I have done to Egypt, and ye dwelt in the wilderness a
long season. And I brought you into the land
of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side of Jordan.
And they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, that
ye might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before
you. And Balak, it says there in verse 9, verse 10, and I would
not hearken unto Balaam. And you went, verse 11, you went
over Jordan and came into Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought
against you and the different ones that came. And verse 12,
I sent the hornet before you to drive them out. And verse
13, I have given you a land for which ye did not labor and cities
which you did not build. and vineyards and olive yards
which you did not plant. Verse 14, now therefore fear
the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the
gods which your father served on the other side of the flood
and in Egypt and serve your Lord. What does it say? The same thing
they worshiped down in Mesopotamia is the same thing they worshiped
over in Egypt and the same thing they worshiped in Rome, the same
thing they worshiped in Greece, And the same thing that is worshipped
today, not the God of heaven, the God of glory, but the God
of an imagination. we better build an altar to this
God, because we don't want Him unhappy with us." Well, as we
drop down through there, we find that Joshua brought out again,
don't follow after the gods of the Amorites. Don't follow after
the gods of Mesopotamia. Remember, the God of glory brought
Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. All right, going back to the
book of Acts, if you would, the book of Acts, chapter 7, Men
and brethren and fathers, verse 2, the God of glory appeared
unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before
he dwelt in Sharan. And in verse 3, and said unto
him, get thee out of thy country. Have you ever had anybody come
by your house and say, get out of your house? What are we going to do? I'm afraid I'm going to my safe
right now. I'll be right back. I'm not leaving my house." Well,
God spoke in such a marvelous way of graciousness to Abraham
and said, get out of here. And guess what he did? He got
out of there. You know, it reminds me of a
man by the name of Matthew. Matthew was a tax man. He gathered taxes for Rome. And
he's sitting at the seat of custom, gathering taxes. Now, he got
taxes for his pocket, and he got taxes for Rome. And Jesus
Christ came by one day and saw that man, and you know, he just
used a few simple words. Follow me. And what did Matthew
do? He followed him. Now I'm telling
you, my friend, when God calls, it is an irresistible, God-loving
call. He's not dragging us down. He's
lifting us up. What did David say about the
position he was in by nature? He said, I was in a horrible
pit. I was in the miry clay. I couldn't get out of the pit
I was in. And as many people as came by
and tried to encourage me to get out of the pit so they could
help me, I couldn't get out of the pit. And what did we find,
David said? He came down in there and rescued
me. He pulled me out of the pit. Oh, it was a wretched pit, but
He pulled me out. By His grace, He does that for
everyone that Jesus Christ went to the cross to save. He pulls
us out of the pit. And then, we have this affection
for God that we never had before, and we are drawn by Him to do
things we would never do before. I want you to go to church. not
just any church, I want you to go where you'll hear something.
I want you to go and hear the gospel. You know, gospel means
good news, good news. I never heard good news in the
church I grew up in because they never talked about the problem
I was in. Oh, oh, Your Ford had a wreck, but it wasn't destroyed. That's kind of the relationship
they gave us. It's not as bad as people talk
about. And yet, when God's Word speaks,
we find out it's worse than we knew. It's worse than we thought
about. The fall is so all encompassing. It is so encompassing that not
one faculty of us will ever turn an inch towards God left to ourself. We find God illustrated that
when Jesus was called to his friend Lazarus, it's his friend.
And he stayed away for a time until the man died. Well, we've
mentioned in the past, he could have healed him from a distance
when he was sick. Or he could have got over there
quicker and healed him in his presence. But he let the man
die and be buried for four days before he got there. Now this
is really going to show the power of God. Just healing somebody,
that's good. Healing him from a distance,
that's something. but raising a dead man, that's
something. The God of glory appeared unto
Lazarus, and he came with that same power that he spoke to Abraham
about that we don't have a record of, we just know from other instances
in the Bible of what happened when Jesus Christ came to that
tomb with that man who had been dead for four days, and you and
I know What happened to that body in that kind of heat? His
sister said, no, no, no. No, no, no. Don't do that. Don't
pull that stone away. For good reason. And yet, they
took that stone away, and Jesus Christ did not ask Lazarus, do
you want to come out? Jesus Christ did not ask Lazarus,
would it be a good idea, could you raise your hand, maybe sign
a card, maybe come forward? Jesus Christ said, Lazarus, come
forth! And there's a man standing in
the opening of that grave. His name was Lazarus. He was
the man that was put in that grave. He came out of that grave
at the command of the Lord. So what do we have here? The
God of glory appeared unto the father Abraham. Abraham was born
in idolatry. He grew up idolatrous. He grew
older and was idolatrous, and he would have died an idolatrous
person except for the grace of God. Stephen declares, it was
not Abraham's goodness that brought God to Ur, it was God's grace
that brought God to Ur. He didn't look down there and
say, oh, look at that guy. He's doing a pretty good job.
I think I'll go down there and visit with him. He looked down
there and saw a wretched, wicked, idolatrous person just like everybody
else that's been born to Adam. But by his grace, and grace means
favor that isn't deserved. We have the idea today that grace
means, well, because I did something for God, he's going to give me
something. That's not the definition of
grace, that's works. But this definition of grace
that we find in the Bible is God alone is in charge of it,
and He does it to people who absolutely do not deserve it.
And He did that for Abraham. He brought him out of Ur of the
Chaldees. The God of glory came down to
Ur, came to a specific man, a sinful man, and called him. The God of glory appeared unto
him and said, get out of this place. And the next thing we
find is he got out of that place. You know, Romans, would you turn
with me to the book of Romans chapter nine? Now this has to
do with some of the near relatives of Abraham, Romans chapter nine. Paul is writing about someone
just like Abraham was. When he was down there in Ur
of the Chaldees, an idolatrous, wicked man, heart was wicked. He had no interest in the God
of heaven and probably had never even heard of Him. And God came
down one day and brought that message of grace. He called him. And here in the book of Romans
chapter 9 and verse 11, we read about Abraham's, is this grandchildren
or great-grandchildren? One or the other, very close. Jacob and Esau. Isaac was his
son. Jacob was his grandson. All right,
for the children not being yet born, neither having done any good
or evil in the sight of anybody, that the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand, saith not of works, but of him that
calleth." Now that's the truth. It's not of works, but him that
calleth. And that's what we have. Way
down there in Ur of the Chaldees, a long ways from anywhere, very
important rich place, a lot of trading going on there, but nobody
knew anything about the gospel. But God went down there, as Stephen
said to this whole council, friends, you and I can agree on this.
The God of glory appeared unto Abraham. down in Ur of the Chaldees. And as Joshua brought out, and
that was just in their scriptures, he was an idolatrous man that
the God of glory appeared unto. He was not going to a prayer
meeting. And we can just step that ahead
just a little bit and say, look at Saul of Tarsus. After he was
agreed to the stoning of Stephen, God stopped him. On the road,
the God of glory appeared unto him and called him out of that
life to Jesus Christ the Lord. And back to the book of Romans,
it says, it was said unto her, the mother, the elder shall serve
the younger. That's an anomaly. The elder shall serve the younger?
No, no, no. I'm the oldest brother. You're
going to serve me. When God said, nope, it's turned
around. By God's sovereign decree, it
was turned around. So as Stephen said, first words
out of his mouth when he stood before that council, the God
of glory appeared unto Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. It is
my prayer that the God of glory will appear to you. Brother Mike.