We're gonna be in Acts chapter
7. Acts chapter 7. Last week we took a little break
from our study in the book of Acts to look at the resurrection
of our great God and King the Lord Jesus Christ. And today we'll continue our
study in the book of Acts. My, oh my. The name of the message is Favor
Before God. Let's stand up, beloved, and
we'll read together Acts 7, verses 44 to 47. Let's stand up together
and read this portion of scripture together. I started this last
week. I like to do this in small sections
before we give our sermon. We'll read from verses 44 to
47. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,
as he hath 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 a house. My, oh my. You see there in verse
46, you can sit down again, where we see who found favor before
God. You know what, beloved? Every
single believer has found favor before God in Christ Jesus our
Lord. That's where we found favor.
Outside of Christ there's no favor with God, but in Christ,
this is my beloved son, hear ye him, this is my beloved son,
in whom I'm well pleased, my oh my. That's our King, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the angel that appeared to
Moses in the burning bush was Jesus Christ himself. He sent Moses to be a ruler and
judge over these rights. We looked at that last week,
or two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, we looked at how our great God
is ruler over all. He's ruler over all. He's in
full control over everything. And that absolutely nothing can,
think of this too, absolutely nothing can keep our sovereign
God from accomplishing his will. And that includes our salvation.
And that includes keeping us. Isn't that wonderful? Nothing,
absolutely nothing can thwart his will. That gives me comfort. Does it give you comfort? That's
assurance, isn't it? That's security. Knowing that
we're in his hands and that no one, no one can thwart his will. I'm thankful. As we see things
going on in this world, I'm thankful no one can thwart God's will.
His will and purpose being accomplished and no one can thwart it. No
one. He will save his people. He will
draw them. He's already saved them at Calvary's
Cross, hasn't he? He's already redeemed them. Now
the Holy Spirit will go out and fetch them. And that's what happens. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. You know, we weren't lost goats. We were lost sheep. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
wonderful? Oh, I'll tell you what. My And
Moses typified Jesus Christ who was sent by, again, Moses was
sent to go into Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
into this world to deliver us from bondage. What bondage? The bondage of sin. We were slaves
to our sin, beloved. And Christ was sent to set us
free, to deliver us from that. And he did by the perfect sinatonian
death upon the cross, beloved, and shedding his blood to redeem
our souls. So just like Moses was sent to
deliver the people of Israel from Egypt, Christ was sent to
deliver us from the world and from our sin, wasn't he? Oh my,
and he accomplished what he was sent to do. And think of this
too, Moses was sent to deliver God's chosen people, not everybody. Who was Christ sent to redeem?
His chosen people. Oh my, and we marvel, we marvel,
how can it be? See, we don't get, we don't get
proud of it. We marvel, how can it be that
God would save a sinner like me? How can it be? Glory to his name. My oh my,
it's wonderful, I'll tell you why. And when our Lord Jesus
Christ began his public ministry, those self-righteous Jews, they
refused to believe that he was the promised Messiah. They rejected
him, didn't they? And that's the state of all men,
unless the grace of God comes into our lives. You know that? Do you know we even rejected
Christ? We did, didn't we? In our natural state, we rejected
Christ, didn't we? And then there came a day. Irresistible
grace, brother. You mentioned it. Irresistible
grace. There came a day when we were drawn like that magnet.
Remember the magnet in Sunday school? You put all that metal
in front of that magnet. You move that magnet closer and
closer and closer. Eventually, those pieces of metal are going
to go right to that magnet, aren't they? That's how we're drawn
to Christ, beloved. Oh, isn't it wonderful? I'll
tell you one. Oh, my. So rejoice, beloved of God, as
God the Father has sent his risen son. He sent him. God the Father
sent him, beloved. He sent him. And why'd he send
him? Well, to save us from our sins.
And he hasn't just sent anybody, he sent the word of God. He sent
God incarnate in the flesh. He sent his son, and now his
son is risen and glorified. and seated at the right hand
of glory, interceding for us. Christ our Lord is risen and
sits upon the sovereign throne of all. He's in full control. I know
I keep saying it every week, but He is. You know why I have
to keep saying it? Because we need to be reminded,
don't we? We need to be reminded every
day Christ is on his throne. He's ruling and reigning. My,
oh, my. And you know what? You know what? He rules and reigns whether people
like it or not. Doesn't he? He's king. Whether they like it. Some people
think, oh, I don't like hearing that. Well, it don't matter.
Whether you like it or not, it's true. Our God reigns. Isn't that wonderful? Our God
is King. Oh my, and His name is the Lord
Jesus Christ. So let's look at verse 36 of
Acts chapter 7. Today we're going to try to look
at verses 36 to 50. Look at this in verse 36. He
bought them. He's going to continue telling
telling the Jews what God's done for Israel. He bought them out. After that, he had showed wonders
and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the
wilderness 40 years. So he's bringing forth here that
God used Moses as an ordained instrument to deliver his chosen
people from Egyptian bondage. However, before he set his people
free, our great majestic God sent 10 plagues upon the land
of Egypt. You know, every one of those
10 plagues attacked an Egyptian god? You never know that? Every one
of those were against an Egyptian god, and their supposed gods
were absolutely powerless, showing that our god is the one true
god. The one true god. They had all
these gods of stone, but couldn't do nothing. Couldn't do nothing. He manifest his sovereign power,
right? With signs and wonders. And then,
and then, he opened up the Red Sea! So that, so that the Israelites
walked across dry land. Dry land. And then, not only
did he deliver them totally through all that, But then he had that
Red Sea collapse upon Pharaoh and all his armies, and they
perished just like that, showing the wrath of God. Now
we see mercy, mercy showing to God's people, and wrath showing
to unbelievers. My, oh my, I'll tell you what. My oh my. And when he parted
the Red Seas, who but God could cause two walls of water to stand
upright with nothing but his power to hold them in place? And that power was invisible,
wasn't it? But it was there. What made those walls of water
stand up? The word of our God's power. He spoke the universe into existence,
didn't he, by the word of his power? See, his power is being manifested.
A cloud is falling on them by day to keep them under shade
in the desert, and a pillar of fire at night to keep them warm
and to ward off their enemies. Oh, my. What a manifestation of God's
power. Nothing but our Lord's power
could be denied. No one could deny our Lord's
power as He delivered the Israelite people. And the more signs and
wonders that He showed to His chosen people as they wandered
in the wilderness for 40 years. What did they do? Look at verse
37. This is 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 ye hear. Stephen was quoting the inspired
writings of Moses from Deuteronomy 18, 15, and Moses was referring,
of course, to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the prophet that
was to come. God, our father, raised up his
son from amongst the people. Oh my. Jesus Christ, our Lord,
was born of a virgin. He was the seed of the woman.
He was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, beloved. And He was the true prophet. He was the true prophet of God
that Moses wrote about. Everything our Lord spoke, think
of this too, our Lord was the way, the truth, and the life,
right? Everything that He spoke was truth. Everything. He never lied. He never lied. Everything he
spoke was truth. You ever ponder that? Every word
he spoke was truth. In Deuteronomy 18, 15, Moses
said, unto him shall ye hearken. And then we see here in verse
37, Stephen says here, him shall ye hear. Him shall you hear. Look at the very end of verse
37. Him shall ye hear. When Peter and James and John
were on the Mount of Transfiguration with our Lord Jesus, they heard
the voice of God the Father speaking from heaven, saying, this is
my son, my beloved son, hear ye him. And Moses had said, unto him
shall ye hearken, and Stephen here says, him shall ye hear. Let us consider this, beloved,
that in our unregenerate state, we cannot hear the voice of Christ. We cannot hear it. It comes to us through the preaching
of the word, doesn't it? But what do we have to be given?
Ears to hear, hearing ears, amen. And seeing eyes, too, right? Hear ye him, Well, if I'm given
hearing ears, I'm going to hear his voice through the preach
of the gospel. My, oh my. It's wonderful. And it's a life-giving
voice, isn't it? That's why we must be born again.
Because in our natural state, we cannot understand anything
about God. We cannot hear the voice of the shepherd. And I'm
not talking the charismatic thing where they say they spoke to
God and God told them this. I'm not talking about that nonsense. I'm talking about through the
preaching of the word, the Lord speaking to your heart. My oh my. And the shepherd speaking
to us through his word by the power of God, the Holy Spirit.
And it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Listen to this question Paul
asked the saints in Galatia. He said, Received ye the Spirit
by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Did you
receive the Holy Spirit by something you did? Or did you receive the
Holy Spirit by the power of God the Holy Spirit? By the power of God the Holy
Spirit, eh? Because we know the works of
the law, and while works can't justify us, So it has to be by
the power of the Spirit. It must be. That's why you must
be born again. You have to be, you have to be
born again to see the kingdom of heaven, to know Christ. Oh my. But marvel at this, at
God's appointed time, at God's appointed time, And there's a point in time of
love for us. God, the Holy Spirit, brings us on to the preaching
of the gospel. And God, the Son's already sent the Holy Spirit
to us then. And oh, if he's pleased to give us true saving faith.
We've heard the precious voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
what does he tell us? Come, follow me. You're mine. Not in an audible voice like
that, but through the preaching of the word, we learn, Christ
loved me. He's loved me from eternity.
And that might be all we know. We might just know, well, Christ
died for me. And that's it. We might not know
nothing about election, nothing about, you know, you don't have
to know all the points of doctrine for the Lord to save you. Just
look and live. You know, you're going to learn
things as you grow in grace. Right? Sister, we were talking
about this not long ago. It's faith in Christ that saves. Doctrine doesn't save us. Right? I knew doctrine. I was a Calvinist
and I was lost. How about that? I had no grace. I was the meanest, rottenest
person around. And then the Lord saved me. Praise
his mighty name. My, oh, my. Look to Christ and
live, my sinner friends. Look to Christ and live. That's
what we've done, haven't we, as believers. Just trust in Christ. Now, you're going to learn again.
You're going to learn. You're going to start to learn. And if you're
sitting under the preacher of the gospel, you're going to learn stuff you
never knew before. And it's going to become marvelous to you. But
never get away from just loving Christ. Never get away from just saying,
Christ is my Redeemer. He saved my soul. Don't graduate
from that place. Right? Oh my, it's so good. I'll tell
you why. And if God the Holy Spirit is
pleased to give us true saving faith, and we've heard the voice
of the shepherd through the preaching of his word, and we learn he's
purchased us with his precious, precious blood. Now look at verses
38 and 39. 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 into Egypt. Well,
Moses was in the church in the wilderness, as were all the Old
Testament saints. Now we know that not all Israel
was saved. We know that. There's a bunch
of unbelievers in there. But there was a remnant, according
to the election of grace. And he was, Moses was in the
church in the wilderness and all the Old Testament saints
were there as well, or that were with him at this time, because
the word for church is Ekklesia, called out. They were called
out of Egypt, weren't they? They were delivered out of Egypt.
We were delivered out of Egypt, of this world. This world is
often called Egypt. We've been called out of the
world, haven't we? Delivered from our Egyptian bondage, a
lot of the old commentators said, which is just our sins. Worldly bondage. And absolutely no one will understand
or enjoy the blessings of being a member of our Lord's blood-bought
church until we experience the inward, personal, irresistible
call from God who delivers us from the power of darkness and
translates us into the eternal kingdom of his dear Son. That's
what's happened to every believer. We were in darkness, but God
has translated us. into the kingdom of his dear
son. Oh my! I'll tell you, that's
something to get excited about, beloved. It really is. Because we couldn't translate
ourselves. We couldn't take ourselves out
of the kingdom of darkness. We were bound in our sin and
loving it. But by the power of God, we found out Christ redeemed
us 2,000 years ago. We didn't even know it, didn't
have a clue. God, the Holy Spirit revealed
to us through the preaching of his word, you're mine. You're a sheep of God. You always
have been, you always will be. But now you're going to learn
that you're purchased by the precious blood of Christ. My,
saved and kept, preserved and delivered one day from this body
of death to glory. All because it pleased God to
do so. That's never gonna get old, is
it? Never gonna get old. I'll tell you why. We got reason
to rejoice, beloved. So unless you're born again,
we won't understand this. What are those folks doing over
there? Bunch of religious nuts. Well, I'd rather be a religious
nut than the way I was before. You call me whatever you want
to call me. I love the Lord Jesus Christ only because he loved
me first. And I'm going to boast in him. Are you? Amen, beloved. My. So he's, Stephen's preaching
to these unbelieving Jews, he's telling them that the same angel
that spoke to Moses from the burning bush is the sovereign
Lord of God. Lord God, the sovereign, and the same one who spoke to
Moses in Sinai. Same one. Jehovah God gave Moses
his divine oracles. Jesus Christ is Jehovah God.
The Holy Spirit is Jehovah God. The Father is Jehovah God. The
three are one. Isn't it wonderful? See the word utterance in that
text there too. Oh my. The word utterance, oh
it's not in that text there, it's in another one I was looking
at. But utterance, the word oracles there, that's what it was. The
word oracles means utterance. See that where it says they received
the oracles of God? That's utterance, beloved. Verse 37, at the very end, the
lively oracles to give unto us, that's utterance, utterance of
God. utterance from God it means in
the text. Stephen told these unbelieving Jews that their fathers
and those Israelites of old who received the divine utterances
from God through the hand of Moses would not obey him, but
thrust him out from amongst them. They didn't want Moses as their
ruler. They didn't want Moses as their leader. They wanted
to go right back to Egypt. They wanted to choose someone
to take them back to Egypt, beloved. They didn't want God's holy word.
And think, they've seen all these things happen. You see, this
is why we know miracles can't save no one. Natural beauty that our Lord's
created can't save anyone. It can testify that there's a
God, but can't save anything. How can a man be just before
God? Only by the grace of God. You must be born again. And you
can only be just before God in Christ. There's no other way. But they didn't want God's word.
They didn't want Moses to govern them. In other words, they didn't
want God to rule over them, did they? Because Moses was sent
by God to deliver them. Did man want Christ to rule over
them? Nope. Nope. These folks, they thrust Moses
out, and their hearts turned back to Egypt, and they wished
themselves there again. And they're flush. They lusted
after the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions,
and all the garlic that was there. They lusted after all the things
that were there. Oh, they were in abundance there. We've got
nothing out here. And they went so far as to move
for a captain, and even to a point where they wanted to lead them
back to Egypt again. They were delivered from Egyptian
bondage, but now we see they had not been delivered from spiritual
bondage. They were not born again. Some were, but those folks who
wanted to go back into Egypt, they weren't. And we know it
was a mixed multitude, the scripture talks about that. My oh my. God has not given them a new
heart. And Stephen, being led by the Holy Spirit of God, is
declaring the truth about the sinful hearts of the unbelieving
Jews in the wilderness. Not all of them again, but he's
declaring that there were some during the days of Moses. And
he's going to let his hearers know that they had, the Jews
who he was speaking to, had the same uncircumcised heart as their
fathers. And they were gonna get so spittin'
mad, next week we're gonna see they kill him. They finally heard something. You ever hear me say some people
leave glad and some people leave mad? I've seen people in here, I'll
be preaching. They come three, four weeks. And then all of a
sudden they start squirming in their seat. Because I get to
watch all of you while I'm preaching, right? And all of a sudden they
start squirming and they start doing this thing. And I'm like,
they're gone. They're leaving mad. They heard something. They heard something. And they
heard something they didn't agree with. Now we pray to the Lord
to have mercy on them, right? And bring them back here or bring
them to another grace church or bring them somewhere where
the gospel is being preached. But they heard something and they
didn't agree with it. My oh my. These folks here, they're
gonna hear something they definitely don't agree with it. Oh my. And Stephen, he's being led by
the Holy Spirit to declare these truths. to declare these truths
to the Jews, to let his hearers know again that they had the
same unregenerated heart as their fathers in the wilderness, as
those who were guilty and rebelled against Moses. And Stephen knew
the truth about man's depravity. God had taught him that. God
taught him that. That's something we do learn
when the Lord saves us. We learn, we learn What did Scott
used to say? I love what Scott used to say.
He said, we lay down our arms of warfare, and we take sides
with God against ourselves. I'm guilty. Remember the thief?
The one the Lord saved? We're here justly. He's taken
arms against himself, beloved. He says, this man's done nothing
amiss. He's perfect. He's the Messiah. How did he
know that? How did he know his own depravity?
And how did he know now? A half an hour earlier or longer,
he was spitting curses at the Lord. And so were we. And then the
Lord saves us. And we say, I'm getting what
I deserve. Or now, I'm not getting what
I deserve. You ever think of that? We don't
get what we deserve. "'cause it fell upon Christ.'"
Mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy. And he knew, Stephen knew that
when he preached this about man's total depravity, that it would
infuriate his hearers. But he also knew that they needed
to hear the truth. See, that's why preachers don't
hold back, no matter who's here. I remember one preacher was told,
I think it was Jim one time was told here, that there was a politician
guy that showed up. I remember hearing about this.
There's a politician guy that showed up and he said something
about, I'd like to make an announcement or something like this. And Jim
said, you're not making no announcement here. You're not going to do
that. You're not going to change service
just because some politician comes in here. Sit down and listen
to the gospel. Well, I guess the fellow was
a little upset. Oh, well. What do you do? I don't go out
to to anger people. It's not my motive to anger people. The gospel just angers people.
Christ angers people. And when we see our sinful nature,
when we're not saved, and we hear about how sinful we are,
it affects our pride. Because we think, what do we
think? I'm not that bad. I'm a good
person. Well, no, you're not. Never mind! Right? We need Christ. So he knew, he knew that by preaching
the truth about their sinful helplessness, that they could
not save themselves and their helpless condition before God,
that they were just like the fathers in the wilderness, that
they would be infuriated. But what did he do? He kept preaching,
didn't he? Turn if you would, turn if you
would to John chapter 8. We'll see that during Christ's
ministry, He dealt with this. He dealt with this. Oh my. John chapter 8. Oh my. Look at this. Starting at verse 43. Our Lord's
speaking to some unbelieving Jews here. And He says here,
Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot
hear my word. Oh, that's a chilling verse right
there, isn't it? Now, if you've got hearing ears,
give God all the glory. Because we see here, in our natural
state, we cannot hear his word. Look at this again. You are of
your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own. For he is a liar, and the father
of it. And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. See, God's preachers, we stand
up and proclaim the word, the truth, about Christ, and about
what we are, sinners, and about Him being the Savior, the only
Savior for sinners. And whether people believe it
or not, we're going to keep preaching it. Look at this. They replied, look at the callousness
and the depravity of their reply in verse 48. Then answered the
Jews and said to him, say we not well that thou art a Samaritan
and hast a devil? He's from the wild lineage, beloved.
He's not a Samaritan. He's from the royal lineage. King David, that's right. Now
that's an insult right there. Because the Samaritans were hated
by the Jews, because they were half-Jews. And then they have
the audacity to say he has a devil. And look at our Lord. This is
one of my favorite portions we're gonna read here. Look at what
our Lord, He's gonna tell them that He's the great I Am. Let's
read verses 56 to 59. They're so angry after He says
this that they pick up stones to kill Him. Look at this. Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Now, could you imagine? He's standing there. He's in
his 30s. And He says to them, Your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Now who's speaking to them? It's
the great I am. They have no clue. This is the
great I am. This is the one who spoke to
Moses through the burning bush. This is the one who appeared
to Abraham. And he says, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. Oh,
he is saved, man. He looked to Christ by faith,
didn't he? Then said the Jews, Thou art not yet fifty years
old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Do you see the unbelieving heart? This is our natural state, beloved.
Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
was, I am. He just invoked the one most
powerful name. He's standing there saying, before
Abraham ever was, I am. I am the great I am, he's saying.
He's telling them right there. Now they understand that, because
look at this. Then took up these stones to cast at him, but Jesus
hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst
of them, and so passed by. They were so full of anger, they
wanted to kill our Lord right there. Why? Because He spoke the truth. He spoke the truth. He didn't
lie. He never lied. That would be
a sin, right? He's sinless. He spoke the truth
to them, and it angered them. Don't be surprised if your relatives,
you're talking to them about Christ and your friends, and
they get angry at you. Don't be surprised. They got angry at our Lord. And
if they could have, they would have killed him on the spot.
But you know what? It wasn't his appointed time to die. So
he passed, did you see that? He passed right through the midst
of them, brother. He went right through the midst
of them, sister. Right through the midst of them. My, oh my. And they didn't lay a hand on
him. It wasn't his time to die. Now his time's been appointed
by the Father, right? He's gonna die on Calvary's cross.
He's already got his face set like a flint to Jerusalem. He
knows he's gonna die. Oh my. And every ordained preacher
of the gospel must preach the same truth to our hearers, even
when we know that the truth of our fallen Adamic nature, that
we fell in Adam, even though we know it will cause people
to to be infuriated and to be angry, we must preach the truth. We must, we can't compromise.
That would be criminal if I compromised, wouldn't it? It would be criminal
if a gospel preacher compromised on the fact of the poverty of
man and the fact that we fell in Adam, we're lost, dead sinners
and we need to be saved. My, oh my. And we gospel preachers, we know
our hearers must receive the Holy Spirit. And they must receive
a Holy Spirit conviction concerning our fallen nature. And God, the
Holy Spirit, makes us aware of that, doesn't he, when he saves
us? He makes us aware of our need for Christ because we're
lost. We're lost. Now let's read verse 40 to 41. Well Moses is up receiving the oracles of God,
isn't he? The Ten Commandments. They say, we don't know where
he is. Make us a calf. And they made a calf in those
days and offered sacrifice unto the idol and rejoiced in the
work of their own hands. Moses was up in the mount with
God. He'd been there for many days.
And Aaron, who was Moses' brother and the high priest over national
Israel, was amongst the people. So those unbelieving Jews went
to him saying, make us gods to go before us. God sent all these
signs and wonders. They've seen the ineffectiveness
of the gods of Egypt. But we see there's still some
unbelievers amongst them, isn't there? And they say, make us,
make us gods to go before us. See, we pray that God would go
before us, don't we? Don't let me go anywhere where
you don't go before me, Lord. Well, these folks here, now they
want a god of stone or a god of gold or a god of, well, they
made a golden calf, didn't they? And these words clearly prove
that these ones who are crying for this idol are uncircumcised
in their hearts. They're not born again. They're
not born again. After all the signs and wonders
that the true and living God had manifest before their physical
eyes, they wanted to serve one of the gods of the Egyptians
still. So Aaron hearkened unto them,
and he made them a golden calf, didn't he? And the majority of God's chosen
nation offered sacrifice unto the idol and rejoiced in the
works of their own hands. See, that's what they're doing.
They're rejoicing with this calf, they're rejoicing in the works
of man's hands. And this is typical of all of
Adam's fallen people, fallen children. We will not come to
Christ that we might have life. Instead, we will idolize gods
of our own imagination, gods of our own hands, and rejoice
in the works of our own hands. This is the natural state of
man. Now let's read verses 42 and 43 of Acts chapter 7. You took up the tabernacles of
Moloch and the star of your God, Rephim, figures which you made
to worship them, and I will carry you away into Babylon." Now Stephen
was here now declaring to these unbelieving Jews that this also
applied to them. And they also applied to us in
our natural state, don't they? Oh my. God withdrew himself. He withdrew his favors from them. Gave them up to a reprobate mind
to worship the sun, the moon, and the stars. My oh my. And like I said before, Stephen
was well acquainted with the Old Testament scriptures. Well
acquainted. Listen to this in Amos. It says, Have ye offered
unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years,
O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your
Moloch, and your Chinon, your images, the star of your God,
which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause thee to
go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is
the God of hosts." That's Amos 5, 25 to 27. So it was prophesied
that they would go into Babylonian captivity because they were following
false gods. And Stephen's bringing this up
saying, you're no different. You're no different. And the names that Amos and Stephen
mentioned, they were gods of the Gentiles. And Moses would never allow those
images to be set up in the camp of the Israelites during the
40 years that they wandered in the wilderness. But these images
were in their hearts and on their minds as years passed as unbelieving
Jews set up these images in different places. Offering sacrifices to
them, one of which was even the sacrifice of their own children.
That's how far they were in their depravity. Well, we see that
in the world today, don't we? My, oh, my. I'll tell you why. No different. No different. Nope. It was for that very reason that
God allowed his chosen nation to go into captivity, Babylonian
captivity. And beloved God, all these things
were recorded on these pages of scripture for our learning.
Here we are, learning about what happened to them and seeing how
our God moves. See, they had fallen off and
they, again, they were never truly born again. They were following
the idols. of their fathers. This is why, this is why we are
to keep ourselves under the preaching of the gospel. Because we are
prone to wander. We are prone to wander. So this
is why we are to keep ourselves under the preaching of the gospel. And this is why it's important
to have fellowship with God's saints on a regular basis. That's
why our Lord instituted the Lord's Supper. commanding his people to come
to his table, all of us, come to his table and remember him.
To remember what he's done for us. And that's another reason, too,
why we're to uphold each other in prayer. And that's why we're
to minister to one another's needs in the name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord, right? Now let's read verse 44. Our
fathers had the tabernacles 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. So the tabernacle
in the wilderness was purposed by God and designed by God back
in old eternity, before time even began. Let's let that one
sink in a little bit. Our God's a God of order. and purpose. And he has a will. Do you know the only true free
will in the universe is God's? He can do whatever he pleases.
Our will is attached to our nature. His nature is holy. Everything
he does is good. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my,
I'll tell you what. So the instructions were given
to Moses by God himself on Mount Sinai when Moses received the
oracles of God, the Ten Commandments. And our Lord gave Moses specific
instructions to make a tabernacle according to the fashion that
he had seen. And the tabernacle was to be
called the tabernacle of witness or the tabernacle of testimony.
And the laws, which were the tables of the testimony, were
to be put into the Ark of the Covenant. And this is in the
innermost sanctuary where the ark was placed. That was where
God met with the high priest on the day of atonement. That's
where the Shekinah glory was. And that's where the God of glory
met with the high priest, the representative of his people
who pictured Christ, who pictured Christ. Now those priests had
to offer sacrifices for themselves before they even went in there,
didn't they? Christ is the perfect sacrifice. He's the perfect priest. He's our high priest, beloved.
He's without sin. So his sacrifice is for us, for
our sins. His blood shed for us, for our
sins. He's the sinless one, the spotless
one, the Lamb of God. And this was a testimony to God's
chosen nation that he had provided a way for their sins to be forgiven.
And they all pointed to the Messiah, didn't they? You know, all those
Old Testament sacrifices couldn't take away sin, but they pointed
to Christ, the sin bearer. The one who could take away the
sins of his people. Just typified Christ. The high priest just
typified Christ as a representative of his chosen people. And what
did Christ as our representative do? Well, he by himself purged
us from our sins by the shedding of his precious
blood. And you know what? He's entered into heaven for us. He's
already there, seated at the right hand of the Father. Now
let's read verses 45 to 47, which also our fathers that came after bought 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 a house. After Moses died,
Joshua became the leader of God's people. Moses represented the
law. Joshua means Jesus, Savior. The law could never bring God's
people into the promised land, could it? We must be bought into
the promised land by a Savior. Jesus Christ our Lord again,
just picturing Christ. Joshua in the Israelites did
not die in the wilderness, They bought the tabernacle into the
land of Canaan that the Gentiles had possessed. And under the
leadership of Joshua, God drove those Gentiles out of the land
right before the eyes of God's chosen people. It's not by might
nor power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Who gave them
the victory? God did, amen. How did we overcome
Satan we saw on Wednesday? By the brother I am, and by the
word of his testimony, and we love not our lives unto the death."
Right? Only Christ. Our only victory
is in Christ, in him alone. My, oh my. And Joshua and the Israelites
fought the battles, but beloved God, it was God himself who gave
them victory, after victory, after victory. You remember when You remember
when the two guys were holding up the staff for Moses, was it
Moses, right? And one of them started going
down, and they started to lose the battle. Oh! See? It's not by the arm of the flesh,
is it? It's by God's power. It's by God's power. And during
the days of David, who was God's only king over the nation of
Israel, he found favor before God. And he had a sincere desire
to build a tabernacle for God. But David was a warrior, wasn't
he? He was a warrior. He was a man
of war, and the Lord refused to allow David the honor of building
a new tabernacle in a fixed location for God to dwell. Instead, it
was God's purpose for Solomon, David's son, to build that tabernacle. Now Solomon was a man of peace.
He was a man of peace, who also typified the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is every believer's peace with God. He typified Christ. He was a
man of peace. We have peace with God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. There's no other peace outside
of Christ. No peace outside of Christ with
God. My oh my. Let's read verses 48 to 50 now.
How abate the most high dwelleth not in temples made with hands,
as saith the prophet. Heaven is my throne and the earth
is my footstool. What house will you build me,
saith the Lord? What is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these
things? That's our God. That's our Savior. Let's read
again what it says. How about the most high dwelt
not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet? Heaven
is my throne. Far above all the things in this
world, right? And the earth is my footstool.
You ever put your feet on a footstool? Nice, isn't it? Gives you rest. What house will you build me? Sayeth the Lord, what is the
place of my rest, hath not my hand made all these things? Everything we see and don't see
was made by the Lord. Isn't that amazing? I've been seeing pictures of
our dear brother and sister over in Hawaii. It's been awesome
in the beauty over there. all created by our King, just
like these great lakes we have, all created by our King, just
like the mountains we have in this country, all created, just like
the mountains in the Swiss Alps and all, all created by our Lord.
He said, you build me a house, I've already made everything. Oh, and we see there one of the
names of our great God, the Most High, is one of our God's names. Look at that in verse 48, how
about the Most High? That's one of his names. You know, we're
to revere him as the most high God. The one true living God. And it was purposed by God the
Father before time began that Jesus Christ, the God-man, would
be the object of all worship and praise. Before time even,
in eternity. He's the lamb slain from what?
From before the foundation of the world. God purposed that
Christ would be the Redeemer. My oh my. And he's the most high
God. He was in heaven. He came down
here, didn't he? Sent. Think of that. You ever think
of that? All these angels, I know I mentioned it many times, I'm
not going to mention it again. All the angels just bowing down
before him. Worshipping him. Covering their
eyes, he's so holy they have to cover their eyes. And he comes down to this sin,
curse world. People are spitting at him. Call
him a devil. I want us to think about this.
Think about the love that motivated him to go to that cross and die
for us. That's everlasting love. that
the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, would come down
to this sin-cursed world and endure what he endured and
fulfill all righteousness. Remember when John Baptist was
going to baptize him and he said, suffer it to fulfill all righteousness.
He's doing that for us. To fulfill all righteousness
for us. And do you ever think of the
Remember in that John 17 study, give me the glory that I had
with you before the world was? Could you imagine when he returned?
Oh my gosh, heaven be shouting, beloved. All those angels, a
number that we can't even know, would be shouting. All the Old
Testament saints who'd gone to glory, be shouting. Worthy is
the lamb that was slain. Oh my, one day we're gonna join
that choir, beloved. Oh, it's gonna be wonderful.
It's gonna be wonderful. Our Lord Jesus, the true and
living God, he doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. His
presence was in the tabernacle in the wilderness and in the
temple, Solomon built. My oh my, and our Lord Jesus
dwells, think of this, have you ever thought of this? Our Lord
Jesus dwells. He dwells in the hearts of every
true believer. My. That's another fizz-out moment,
isn't it? But it's the truth. And he promises to never leave
us nor forsake us. Never. But let us always remember,
heaven is his throne. The earth is his footstool. This
earth that we count, we love this earth, and we love being
here. It's his footstool. My, oh my. I walked out yesterday. Neil, I thought about you saying
the other day, there was not a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful. It was just absolutely stunning. Just his footstool. Isn't that
amazing? How big is our God, beloved? How big is our God? No wonder
it says he humbled himself and became a man. A body that has
prepared for me. He's back in glory now as the
risen, glorified God-man. It's amazing. So heaven is the
dwelling place of the Lord Jesus Christ, the exalted, glorified
God-man. And all the saints are there
with him, and all things are under his feet. So what house
could possibly be made by man that could house him? Nothing.
Our God is omnipresent. Can a house contain him? He's
omnipresent. He's everywhere at once. No literal
building could possibly contain him. And our Lord asked this
question, what is my place of rest? Oh my. Listen to this in Psalm 132 verses
13 to 14. For the Lord hath chosen Zion,
he had desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here
will I dwell. For I have desired it. John Gale
bought that forth. And he said, he said, our sovereign
creator, by the word of his mouth, he made heaven and earth in all
things. So think of this. He is God. He made heaven and earth. What
could we, what could we finite humans make for the Lord Jesus
Christ who has made all things? Nothing. And Stephen's given
them this brief but accurate historical account of Abraham
up to the, and including Solomon, to declare to these unbelieving
Jews that they had the same uncircumcised heart as those rebels in the
wilderness. Those Christ-denying Jews in
the Old Testament. They all have the same heart.
And we had the same heart at one time, too. But God's given
us a new heart, hasn't he? That hungers and thirsts after
righteousness. And Stephen's earnest, sincere desire was to
point his hearers to the need of the Lord Jesus Christ, praying
that God the Holy Spirit would make his preaching effectual.
And Lord willing, we'll finish Stephen's recorded message next
week. And like Stephen, God's preachers
know that Abraham received a personal call from God who delivered him
from spiritual darkness, delivered him from spiritual bondage. And
that's what he's done for every one of us, isn't it? My, oh,
my. We who are the born-again blood-washed
saints have learned that Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage
typified our deliverance from bondage of sin, and also from
the bondage of Satan, and also from the wrath to come. Remember those Egyptians going
through that Red Sea? What happened to them chariots?
The wheels all of a sudden fell off. Those chariots were fast. The wheels fell off. And they
find themselves amidst the two walls of water. And down it comes. No hope. Judgment. Just like that. There's only one place to be
safe from the wrath of God. That's in Christ and Christ alone. Flee to him. He's the only hope
for sinners. The only hope for sinners. My
oh my. Brother Dave, you want to close
us in prayer?