So again, welcome to our continuing
study in the book of Luke. And we'll be in chapter 12 this
morning, in verse 11 and 12, if you want to turn there in
your Bibles. kind of to set the stage for
this lesson here in Luke chapter 12 verse 11 and 12. Jesus had just had concluded
having supper with these Pharisees who were the They were kind of
his, most of them you might say were his arch enemies there from
the religious world. There were a few though because
the Bible, we're believers, the Bible says some of the Pharisees
believed and we know that Nicodemus was a believer, and we find that
Saul of Tarsus, who said he was a Pharisee of a Pharisee, the
epitome of the Pharisees, became a regenerated believer after
a time. But by and large, they were his
enemies, and at the conclusion of the last chapter that said
they were trying to trick him into saying something that they
might, they wanted to accuse him of. And so they were looking
for ways to get rid of him. So he'd had this supper with
them, and he pronounced a bunch of woes on them and said a bunch
of things to them that they took offense to. So now he's with his disciples,
and you know, they probably had a little bit of worry there. You know, you're
aggravating those guys, and we're a little bit afraid. And so in
Chapter 12, He begins to counsel them, and
I just think of it as the Lord knew He was only going to be
with them physically a short time. It kind of reminded me
of our daughter when she comes to visit us, when she gets ready
to go, okay, well, be careful on your way home, and drive carefully,
and do this and do that, and don't do this and don't do that.
When you get home safely, call us and let us know. And so we
have all this advice for her. And I think that's the way the
Lord kind of viewed this. He looked at all these disciples
and he knew their fates, all of them, you know, what was going
to happen, where they were going to go. what they were going to
do, what was going to happen to them. And it turns out that
it was apostles all, but one of them were executed. And he knew that when he was
telling him these things. So he says, beware the leaven
of the hypocrisies. And we spent a whole lesson on
that leaven of hypocrisy, that pretending to be what you are
not, and saying one thing and doing another. And then in Luke
12, verse 4, he says, And I say unto you, my friends... Boy,
what a wonderful verse that the Lord looks at you and calls you
friends. Be not afraid of them that kill
the body. He says, I know these guys are kind of scary, Be not
afraid of them, and we're gonna look at some examples of how
that turns out here a little bit later in the lesson from
the book of Acts. Be not afraid of them that kill
the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But
I will forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear him which after
he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto
you, fear him. Are not five sparrows? sold for
two forthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God.
But even the very hairs of your head are numbered. Fear not,
therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." So not only
does he call them friends and tell them to fear not, but he
says, you're valuable to me. Each one of you has a value that's
beyond comprehension to the Lord. And in verse 8, it says, Also
I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, whoever
acknowledges me as the Son of God, whoever agrees with the
gospel, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels
of God, and he that denieth me before men, he who contradicts
me, he who disparages the gospel, he who is against me, before
men shall be denied or before God. And that word actually means
to not have any association with. And we looked at that scripture
in Matthew where he says, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity, I never knew you." No association ever. And verse 10, Whosoever shall
speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven
him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall
not be forgiven. And we spent time on that verse
as well, on speaking against disparaging the Holy Spirit attributing his works not to
his efficacious power and not acknowledging the work of the
covenant of grace there. And so now we're in verse 11
and 12 here for this lesson today. And he's given them this advice
and he says, and when they take you and bring you into the synagogues,
and unto magistrates and powers, take ye no thought how or what
thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost
shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say." Isn't
that an interesting word? Don't worry about it. We'll take
care of it. And so in today's lesson, we're
titled The Spirit and the Church, the valuable words that the Lord
speaks to all of us, and to those disciples in particular, but
to the church at large, and the value of them. And you know,
in John 6.63, the Lord says, the words that I speak unto you
are spirit and truth. The very words, every word that
He says. And in dealing with these Pharisees, most of whom
were enemies, And here he's about to make his final walk into Jerusalem
to give his life a ransom for many, for the church. And giving
those words that he spake in spirit and truth, that the Spirit
would call to their mind at the right time. He would do that,
and you don't have to worry about, maybe I should write down some
notes. Maybe I should write down, in
case they ask me this, I better think of that. In case they ask
me this, I better write this down. I saw a guy doing a Bible lesson
here on another place that shall be nameless. He was handing out
little pamphlets to tell to witness to people. And he says, well,
if they say this word, you can use that to bring up a similar
word in the Scripture and then lead that into the... And if
they say this word, then you go here. And if they say that
word, then you go here. Anyway, I digress. I just wanted us to look a little
bit today at maybe expand our view of the Holy Spirit in the
church. And he says, take no thought
what you say. The Holy Spirit is going to be
with you. And you know, it turns out the Holy Spirit is with us
always. Are we ever really alone? We have continual words of comfort
from Jesus, and He brings us along as we're able. That's what
He told the disciples. He says, boy, I have got a lot
of things to tell you, but right now you're not able. The more we dig into the Word
of God, the more that He blesses us with understanding, the more
we see that it's just an endless supply, and it's just deeper
and wider and more expansive than we could ever think. And,
you know, David said, boy, when I think about this, when I'm
in the night watches, when I'm thinking, he says, it's just
too wonderful. I can't contain, cannot contain. It's just too much for my mind.
So we have these words from Jesus. I say unto you, my friends, fear
not them that kill the body. Each of you are of great value
to the Lord. And I just wanted us to remember
that as we look at this lesson concerning the Spirit of God
teaching us what to speak at a moment of trial that we might
have, and we're just really blessed that we don't really have too
much of that in this country and at this period of time. Things
could change. Remember that the Spirit is eternally
with us. If we look at a few Scriptures
which kind of affirm that truth, turn with me to John 14, 16. John 14, 16. Jesus is speaking with His disciples
again. He says, And I will pray the
Father, I'll intercede for you, pray for you. And He shall give
you another Comforter." Another Comforter. He was with them at
the present. And that He may abide with you
forever. He'll give you another Comforter
that He may abide with you forever. And you know, when we think about
that, eternity is not a linear thing. It's a broad spectrum view from
God that we really can't comprehend because we're linear time-wise.
But forever, eternally with the Lord is like in all time, in
all directions, in all places, in all things, and not necessarily from, well, from
this point on. You know, the Spirit is If we
look at the Scripture, and we understand the Trinity, and we
understand that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
are all one, they're all in unity. They're all in the same purpose.
They do different parts of the covenant of grace. The Father
chose a people in eternity, gave them to the Son. The Son agreed
to redeem them by the sacrifice of His own body on the cross. And the Holy Spirit applies that
and brings the new birth and gives them faith and trust. So if He says, I've loved you with
an everlasting love or an eternal love, If that's the fault, well,
the Spirit is there right in unison with that. So the Spirit
has had an everlasting love for you as well. And if we look at
that in the view of God's providence, as we might say, or His purposes, we often think, well, wonder
why Why didn't he save me before I did all that bad stuff? You know, it's just according
to his sovereign purposes. And we're going to look at some
scriptures that kind of teach us that in this lesson, that
the Spirit watches over us from before eternity. I was telling
Norm, you know, I was thinking of the book of Matthew, where
it gives the lineage of the Lord. so-and-so begat so-and-so begat
so-and-so begat so-and-so and I said wouldn't it be interesting
if we could send in one of those litmus test things that you lick
and send it in to the whoever and they send you back a list
of all your all of your ancestors that were believers or not believers
and be able to say well boy you know probably not one of mine
were probably there but the Spirit of God worked all things to bring
them to where they were, to have the children that they had, to
have the children that they had, to have the children that they
had that produced me. Boy, all the way back to Adam. And it was involved in that.
And the Spirit makes sure that nothing happens to you, you're
not taken out of this world one second early. Before he connects
you with the gospel and gives you the new birth if you're if
you were given to the son in the covenant of grace Behold
the isaiah said behold I and the children whom that thou has
given me. That's what the lord said Here's a picture. He says
here's me and all of the children that you gave me and so if we
have that picture of the holy spirit make sure that that You're not taken out of this
world before you hear the gospel and before you you have the new
birth and before you're Blessed with this wonderful faith this
total trust and reliance in Christ for salvation what he's with
us eternally and The Lord has appeared unto me of old saying
I've loved thee with an everlasting Love and eternal that means eternal
Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." And, you
know, he draws us at the time that's, like Paul said, you know,
when it pleased God. When it pleased God, that was
the time. And I'm sure he said, boy, I
wish he would have done that before I would have put all those
people in prison and was standing there when Stephen got stowed
and many things as that. Romans 9-11, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
him that calleth. the purpose of God in election
from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians says, and
you hath He chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. And he speaks about the Spirit again in John 14, 17.
Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth Him not, Neither knoweth him, but ye know
him, for he dwelleth in you and shall be in you." So he brings
up another aspect of the relationship of the church with the spirit
and the world. And Paul affirms that. He says
the natural man can't perceive the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them, because
they're spiritually discerned. And he says, the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. So
there's two things that they don't have. They don't see and
they don't know. But you know him, for he dwelleth in you,
and shall be in you. It's kind of two tenses of a
verb that says He's always with you through all time. So is the Spirit
of God in us and with us always? Well, yes, He is. But in our
unregenerate state, we don't recognize that really and we
don't come to know it until after the rebirth and until it's revealed
to us. And it's all according to God's
purpose and His will and time. And, you know, I was thinking
as I was typing that note that in some time back, Norm brought
up in his series on Ezra, from Ezra chapter 2, the exactness
of God. The exactness of God. You know,
everything with Him, is precise. Everything runs perfectly. Everything is synchronized according
to His will and purpose. And the Spirit who is with us
eternally is in unison with that, is in unity with that. And at the exact appointed time the
Father appointed, and that they in unity were in agreement with. He guards us through life. Not
one person in the church will leave this world before the Spirit
of God intersects us with the Gospel, brings us the new birth. Causes us to believe and teaches
us all truth. He will he will teach all truth
You know the Acts 15 18 says known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world How expansive is that in the
Spirit is is in that one in the same? And I think of some examples,
you know that says you can't see the Spirit and And we have
that example in John 3. We'll read that here in a minute.
But you know, the Spirit of God is His active arm in the effectual
application of the redemptive price of His body for salvation. And many things that He does that
we don't see, but we can read about them and we can say, wow, How blessed it is that Jesus,
in John 1, verse 50, is talking to this fellow who said, Jesus answered and
said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the
fig tree, believest thou? You'll see greater things than
these. I saw you under the fig tree. And he thought he was alone,
apparently, is the implication of that scripture. Maybe he was
praying under that fig tree and meditating on spiritual things. And the Lord was with him, the
Spirit of God was with him. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hear the sound of it, But you can't tell from whence
it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. Now that speaks to the sovereignty of the Spirit
in the new birth, but it also tells us that it gives us this
metaphor of that you don't really see physically. You can't see
the wind physically, but you can see the result of it. You
can see the manifestation of it. in the waves on the water
and in the leaves moving on the trees and you can feel it blowing
against you. You have many manifestations
of the effects of it, but you don't really, it's invisible
to your eye. And so, We have that aspect of
the Spirit that just because we don't see it doesn't mean
that it's not there with us. And as humans, we kind of have
that like Nathan under that fig tree. We just say, I'm alone.
Nobody's, but you know what? The Spirit is always with us.
And we should keep that in mind. It would be good for us. 2 Corinthians
4, verse 18, if you would turn there in your Bible for one verse. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 18, it says,
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen. We don't look at the things seen for our spiritual comfort
and eternal security and things, but we look at the things which
are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal. All the things that we see are
just in this world, in this time, and they're not going to be here
forever. But the things which are not
seen are eternal. Now there's something for you
to wrap your arms around. The things that we don't see
are eternal, and we don't really sometimes pay enough attention
to that, and we get caught up in the, this world is all there
is, and we focus too much on that. But the things which are
not seen are eternal, and that's the way the Holy Spirit is in
operating with the church. You know, Jesus, as He was leaving
in Matthew 28, 20 says, as He's given instructions there, He
says, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you, which is just the gospel. And lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. And you know,
that just means not from just from this point forward. Again,
if we could expand our, these words just mean eternity, eternalness. And if we could expand our thinking,
not to just think of, well, eternity just means from now forward,
or from this point forward in a linear type framework, but
eternity with Him is, He says, I am. There's no before, there's no
after, no beginning. I'm the Alpha and the Omega. I'm all. So the Spirit, here
in our text verse in Luke chapter 12, verse 11 and 12, the Spirit
shall teach you what to say in that day, in that day when you're
taken before magistrates, or you're taken before powers, or
you run into somebody that accosts you about the gospel, or whatever
the situation, whatever part that we may be involved in that's
where we're having to present the gospel. And he says, the
Spirit will teach you what to say in that day. No need to try
and depend on our own reasoning. We don't need that little cheat
sheet that says, well, if they say this word, then I go here.
If they say that word, then I go this place. That's just not depending on
the Spirit to do His job, because the Spirit will teach you what
to say in that day, and it may not be much. One of the things
that we need to focus on is that we don't have control over that. We say what the Spirit leads
us to in the gospel, And maybe we don't get the results that
we would like to see, you know. Maybe it has the exact opposite
effect. But you know what? No matter
what happens there, God gets the glory because it's according
to His purpose. You know, Paul wrote, if you
want to turn over to 1 Corinthians 2, and we'll read verses 1 through
4 there, Paul, I think, had a grasp of
this principle that, you know, he'd been exposed to so much
of the Old Testament and probably memorized it, but he didn't go to people and
he didn't talk to the people that were trying to stone him
or beat him with rods or all those things. He just presented
the Gospel, and I believe it as the Spirit directed him. The
Bible says, holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit. And he says, brethren, 1 Corinthians
2, verse 1, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not
with excellency of speech. I didn't sit here and write out
a long, elaborate diatribe words that you're going to have
to look up later to make me look smart. He said, I didn't come
to you with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you
the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." He
says that's the only thing that makes a difference. The only
thing that works. It's the only thing that the
Holy Spirit uses to bring about the new birth is the gospel.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, He said, but it was in demonstration of the Spirit
in power. He knew that the Holy Spirit
had control of that. And apparently it was effectual
in these people because he calls them brethren. He wouldn't be
saying that if they were not brethren. He'd be calling them
something else. He said, I brethren, when I came
to you, He said, I brought you the gospel. And so that brings
us to another part here that's so vitally important in the Spirit
teaching is what we shall say is that then we just leave it
up to Him because He is the one that has the control over the
effectual nature of it. What you say by the Spirit, the
gospel, The Bible tells us it's going to be a saver of life unto
life to some, and a saver of death unto death to others. If
we turn over to 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14, we have that in
our Scriptures here. There's only two results. There's no ambiguity there. Well, some people can believe
and some people cannot believe, and to others, it's up to you. 2 Corinthians 2, verses 14, 15,
and 16. Now thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. No matter the outcome,
we triumph in Christ because we've done our duty. We have declared the gospel. But that's as far as we can take
it. He always causes us to triumph
in Christ and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge by
us. in every place. Now that's an
interesting word because that word savor has to do with our
smell, our smelling ability. The sweet savor. Norm has brought
a couple of lessons on the sweet savor of incense in his Old Testament
studies from where they burnt incense at the altar and it was
a picture. It was a metaphor. So there's a smell to God that
goes out as we declare the gospel. And then to some, it's a smell
of death. To others, it's the sweet smell
of life. He always causes us to triumph
in Christ and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge by
us in every place. You know, God uses the church,
the elect, to declare the wonderful sweetness of the gospel of the
knowledge of His Son. In verse 15, it says, For we
are unto God a sweet savor of Christ. A sweet, a sweet, when
He sees us, He just smells the sweet smell of His Son. instead
of what we were. And in them, he says, for we
are unto God a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved,
and in them that perish. To the one we're the saver of
death unto death, and to the other the saver of life unto
life. And he says, and who's sufficient for these things?
You know, we'd like to be able to control that outcome, And
it has these two results, and he says, I've got no control,
who's sufficient for these things? Who can understand all of that? Who can control it? It's only the Holy Spirit. It
all glorifies God, and it all accomplishes His purpose. He has the Gospel preached where
He'll have it preached, and it'll accomplish the purpose And it
may only be for a while. Remember here a while back we
had a study about the Ninevites. And he sent Jonah to, he says,
I want you to go to Jonah and thus saith the Lord to them.
And you know that record. And he went and they repented,
it said. But it was only for like 100
years. Then the next generation went back to worshiping and all
kinds of evil behavior. And as a result, justice was
brought down on them, and the Babylonians came in and burned
it all to the ground and killed them all. But for the ones that
God had purposed to hear the gospel and believe, it was effectual
in them. It all glorifies God and accomplishes
His purpose. And we have just a little bit
of time left. I'd like to look at a couple
of examples of this where these things become applicable. The
Holy Spirit will teach you what to say at the time. And so if
you go with me to Acts, the second chapter, verse 14, And here we have this instance
where Peter, the Holy Spirit, as Mike brought out in his lesson
on the mighty rushing wind, the Spirit was there. They heard
the gospel. They heard the wonderful works
of God all in their own languages. And Peter preached to them the
gospel from the book of Joel and from Psalms 16, verse 10. Cutting to the end of the story
there, we'll read that. At the end, there was added to
them about 3,000 souls from the work of the Spirit there and
from what He had directed Peter to preach. So, I think we'll
have time to read that real quickly. But Peter, standing up with the
eleven, verse 14 of Acts chapter 2, lifted up his voice and said
unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem,
be this known unto you, and hearken unto my word, for these are not
drunken. Remember they said, well, these guys are drunk, that's
why all this language issue is going on. These men are not drunken,
as you suppose, seeing as it's the third hour of the day, but
this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel. The Spirit
moved in him to say, wow, this is just what we read about in
the book of Joel in the Old Testament. And it shall come to pass in
the last days, saith God, I'll pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and daughters shall prophesy. And your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And my servants
and my handmaids I will pour out in those days of my spirit,
and they shall prophecy. And I will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor
and smoke. And the sun shall be turned to
darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable
day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You
men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves know him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible, he should beholden of it. Because David
wrote about this in Psalm 16 10 for David speaketh concerning
him I foresaw the Lord always before my faith for he is on
my right hand that I should not be moved Therefore did my heart
rejoice and my tongue was glad moreover Also, my flesh shall
rest and hope Because that will not leave my soul in hell neither
wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption So all of the
elements of the gospel presented there are This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which you now see
and hear, the Holy Spirit. preaching the gospel to them
all in their own languages and tongues. David is not ascended
into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard
this, They were pricked in their hearts. Well, who does that?
Whose job is that? That is the Holy Spirit that
applies that. And you know, it just doesn't
do any good to prick the heart of a dead heart, because it's
dead. There has to be a new heart.
They were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then
Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized unto every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He said, Just
acknowledge, turn. For the promise is unto you and
to your children, to all that are far off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did
he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand souls." What a work of grace. What a
work of the Spirit there. So then if we move ahead to chapter
6, We're just not going to be able
to read this whole thing because we're getting kind of low on
time. But this has to do with Stephen and the same thing. Remember, Stephen was one that
they made to help out there to be a deacon. and weighed on people,
and said in verse 5 of chapter 6, they chose Stephen, a man
full of faith, and the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and
Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of
Antioch. And so they were helping out
there. And in verse 8, Stephen, full
of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the
people. And then there arose certain of a synagogue, which
is called the Synagogue of the Libertines, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and them of Cilician Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not
able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake, so
they arrested him." That's how I do it, isn't that? It's ironic
there. Well, we can't find anything
wrong with what he said, but we want to make him stop. And
so here's their plan. They set up false witnesses.
We'll hire some guys to lie about him. And so they stirred up the
people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him and
caught him and brought him to the council. Just like Jesus
said, when they take you before the powers and the magistrates
and the elders and the synagogue, take no thought what you're going
to say. Well, you know what he did? He preached the gospel to
them from Genesis to Malachi. And I couldn't do that for him. He
just had it all down, and the Holy Spirit moved in him there
to give the whole story there. And so that moves on into chapter
7. And he continues this gospel
from Abraham on. tells them about their deliverance
from Egypt, and Joseph, and all of that, and Moses, and then their rejection that they had. As soon as Moses was out of sight,
they turned back and took up the tabernacle of Moloch, So we're going to cut to the
chase down here to chapter 7, verse 51, after he declares the
mighty works of God to them in all that he did from the beginning. And he says, You stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the
Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets
have not your fathers persecuted? And they've slain them which
showed before the coming of the just one." And he's just saying,
these prophets that you slew, they were declaring the coming
of the just one in all the Old Testament. The same as our pastor
does Wednesday night and every Sunday. from Zechariah and Numbers
and Ezra and Malachi and all the books that he's brought us
through. He showed before the coming. You remember his messages,
someone's coming. Someone is here. Someone's coming
back. That's what Stephen was telling
them. Well, what happened then? Again,
we have the results that we saw in Acts chapter 2 where 3,000
were added to the church that day. Some of the results here
are immediate and some results are far down the road yet, but
the Spirit has, Paul said, who's sufficient for these things?
The Spirit controls the timing of that according to the purpose
of God because 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." You know, the Lord knew His end. And He was probably
one of those ones, those disciples that were with Him back during
this time with the Pharisees, all the dealings that he had
with them. He looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing by the right hand of God and said, Behold,
I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right
hand of God. You know, he probably knew by
then that they had a his demise in mind. They gnashed on him
with their teeth." That's just, I don't know if we can imagine
the viciousness with which they received the gospel. It was a
savor of death unto death unto them. And they cried with a loud voice
and stopped their ears. We don't want to hear this. And they ran upon him with one
accord and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And when
we're talking about stones, it's like stones big enough to hurt
you. Not just, we don't like you,
we're gonna throw rocks at you and hope you go away. It was
stones big enough to inflict death. They stoned him and the
witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name
was Saul. So the Spirit was working here,
even though the results won't be seen physically for some time
yet. But the Spirit was there. And
they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And kneeling down, he cried with
a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when
he had said this, he fell asleep. I think he understood that there
were some among them were going to be believers at some time.
But he said, I don't know who's sufficient for these things.
I don't know who they are. Well, 1 Peter 1, verse 10 says, The Spirit of Christ which was
in them testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow 1 Thessalonians tells us that
the Gospel comes to us not in word only, but in power and in
the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit that teaches
us what we ought to say at the time according to the purpose
of God. And remember, He said, be not
afraid of them that can kill the body. And He gave him a look
at where he was going. He says, your physical body may
be about to end, You're just stepping across the line over
with me. So, just for the church, take
you no thought what you shall answer, what you shall say. For
the Holy Ghost shall teach you the same hour what you ought
to say. So with that, we'll stop, and
the next time we'll take a look at this young man who says, I'm
worried about my inheritance. So be free, my friends.