Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
6. Acts chapter 6. We'll continue
our study in this chapter. And today we're going to see
Stephen seized by the elders and the scribes and being taken
to stand before the council, the same council that the apostles
stood before in Acts chapter 5. And remember, all this is happening, all this is happening according
to the will and purpose of God. And it's all happening for the
furtherance of the gospel. We're gonna see that when we
study Philippians, Paul says that the reason he's in jail,
the reason these things have fallen out to him is for the
furtherance of the gospel. And let us always remember that
as we read these different things that our dear brothers and sisters
went through. It's all according to the will
and purpose of God, and it's all for the furtherance of the
gospel. And what can that give us? Well,
that can give us peace in times of persecution and suffering,
can't it? Now, our persecution may be different than what they
went through, but we've all been persecuted for our faith at one
time or another. If you believe in Christ, you're
going to suffer for his sake, right? You may lose friends. Family members may turn away
from you. Coworkers may be like, well, I don't want to be around
that fellow anymore. Things can happen that way. And
it's just because of our faith in Christ. Our Lord told us, he said, marvel
not that the world hates you, it hated me first. Right? Look at this in Acts chapter
6. We're starting verses 8 and we'll read the verse 15. Now
Stephen was one of the Hellenistic Jews that was made a deacon. As we looked at that office last
week, And it says here, and Stephen,
full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among
the people. And there arose certain of the
synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertarians,
and the Syrians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia, and of
Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist
the wisdom and spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men which
said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses
and against God. So they hired false witnesses. And they stirred up the people,
and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught
him, and brought him to the council, and set up false witnesses, which
said, this man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against
this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that
this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall
change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat
in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had
been the face of an angel." There's a lot in this little portion
here. Again, Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew, which last week we looked
at. That was a Jew that was not born
in Israel. or maybe was born in Israel but
went to Greece or further off into other countries and picked
up their customs. In this case, a Hellenistic Jew
was one who picked up the Greek customs of life and manners of
life. So he was a Hellenistic Jew by
birth. He was born in Greece, in contrast to all the apostles
who were Galileans. And in the eyes of the educated
leaders of Israel, Those apostles, they were a crude, uneducated
lot. They just despised them. You
know what they were? They were common people like
you and I. That's what they were. And those Pharisees despised
them. It shows you self-righteousness
boils up and makes one think more of himself than he really
is. Because those Pharisees were hewed out of the same quarry
of humanity that the apostles were, weren't they? If you ever rise up in life,
stay low. Stay low. Never forget the rock
you were hewn from. Never forget where you came from.
You heard me say, my mom was a housewife and my dad was a
trailer mechanic. That's where I came from. Never forget it. Don't ever forget it. So these
folks, they had obtained this position of power and it had
gone to their head. Gone to their head. Remember when Peter and John
stood before the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 4, they were perceived
to be unlearned and ignorant men. And yet they knew more about
spiritual things than that council ever had all put together. Because they were taught of God. You know, I'm looking at wise
folks in Christ. We might not be worldly wise,
but we're wise folks in Christ, and that only comes because of
God the Holy Spirit. That's his work. Isn't it wonderful? Oh my. So they looked at those Sanhedrin
and those councils, they looked at the apostates, a bunch of
crude, uneducated fishermen and tax collectors. But Stephen,
I didn't realize this until I looked at this this week. Stephen was
a different kind of preacher. I learned some stuff about Stephen
that I didn't know. Do you know he's a man of learning?
Do you know who he sat under? A fellow that another apostle sat
under. Gamaliel. One of the greatest
teachers at that time about the law. I didn't know that. And so next week we're gonna
start looking at the sermon he preaches and how he masterfully
lays out. Now I know why he can masterfully
lay that out. He knew the law better than the
ones he was talking to. But God had saved him and made him a preacher. And
he was from another culture, too. He was a man of learning,
a man of education, a man of refinement. He was a man of rank
and reputation. And look at the humility. He's
serving tables. Isn't that beautiful? No, it's wonderful. In contrast
to those Sanhedrins and Pharisees who set themselves up and just
looked down on everybody. Here's Stephen, a man of rank,
a man of education, a man that could go toe-to-toe with any
of those men, and he's serving tables. And he's also preaching
the gospel, isn't he? We see here, we see in Stephen
full of faith in verse 8, empowered to do great wonders and miracles
among the people. He's a preacher too, and we're
going to see that in chapter 7. We're going to see him just
lay out a wonderful message of grace. Oh my. Some of the historians
tell us again that, like Saul of Taurus, before whom he boldly
defended the gospel of Christ, look at this. Look in Acts chapter
7. And look at the very end of Acts
chapter 7. Look at verses 57, we'll read
57 to 60. Then they cried out with a loud
voice and stomped their ears. They didn't want to hear anything
he had to say anymore. And ran upon him with one accord
and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at the young man's feet, whose name
was Saul. And they stoned Stephen. calling
upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And look at
this. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. Gone home, just like that. I
was thinking about that today. I was thinking about that today. When Stephen died, and when a
believer dies, It's like a blink and you're
in the presence of God. Isn't that amazing? To go from
this world of death and spiritual wickedness and wickedness
around us and to be in the midst of Christ just like that in glory. Isn't that amazing? He went to
sleep. He didn't go to sleep, though.
He went home, didn't he? Which means he went home. He died. Just like
that. He's getting stoned and he's
dying, and he says, forgive them, Father. Reminds me of someone
said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Oh, my. My, oh, my. The name of this message is A
Faithful Man, and Stephen, Stephen was a faithful man, beloved.
So he was trained at the feet of Gamaliel, the same teacher
that Paul sat under. So he was an educated man again. But as we study the history of
his death, we learn the dominant character of his life was that
Stephen was a faithful man. He was a faithful man. Faithful to the church, faithful
to God, faithful to Christ, faithful unto death, as we just saw. How is he faithful? By God's
grace and mercy. He's an example of faithfulness
held up for all who would honor God. Let's read Acts 6 verses 8 to
10. And Stephen, full of faith, that's
the same faith you and I have as believers, the same faith
that all the God's born-again blood-washed saints receive,
full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the
people. And there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called
the synagogue of Libertarians, and Cyrerians, and Alexandrians,
and of them of Caecilia, and of Asia, to speak with Stephen.
And look at this, they were not able to resist the wisdom and
the spirit by which he spake. My, oh my, you know God will
give us the words to speak when we need it. We don't have to worry about
that. People often think, what am I going to say if something
ever happened to me like that? God will give you the words to
speak. He'll give you the words to speak.
And we see in verse 8 that Stephen was gifted
with power to perform great wonders and miracles. He was also gifted
with the ability to preach Christ. to proclaim the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This man of great faith, he was
a dedicated servant. He was a dedicated servant of
the Most High. He was a dedicated servant of
God. He was a man well-educated, a
man of standing, a man who probably gave up all
that. to serve our great God. Isn't
it amazing what God does to his people? Again, we're here for
the furtherance of the gospel, aren't we? Here we are, Almonte, Michigan,
2024. Still going, eh? By the grace
and mercy of God. Message is still going out. It's
incredible. It's absolutely amazing. So we
see here in verse 9 that there arose certain of a synagogue,
which is called the synagogue of the Libertines. I think I've said that three
different times, three different ways, haven't I? So, it's Libertines. And Cyreans, and Alexandrians,
and of them of Cilicia, and these are disputing with Stephen. Now, I didn't realize this either,
in the city of Jerusalem at this time, there was more than 460
synagogues John Gill bought forth. He believes that these were separate
synagogues. I'm not gonna argue that, we're
not gonna even ponder that. All we know is they were sects,
right? And obviously they were Jewish
sects. And they gathered to dispute with Stephen. A lot of people like to dispute. You know how do you stop disputing?
Thus saith the Lord, period. That's what the Lord says. You
don't have to argue with people. You don't have to debate with
people. What does the Word of God say? Now, people will give
their opinion. Oh, they want to give their opinion. But our
opinion don't matter when it comes to the Word of God, does
it? Thus saith the Lord is what matters. And we can, from the
scriptures, pull things for our daily life In our life on this earth, where
the Lord says, thus saith the Lord, and the world says, well,
we do it this way. Well, I'm going to do it this
way, because the Lord says, thus saith the Lord. It's better to
obey God than man, isn't it? Right? You know, we're living
in a day when they call good evil and evil good. But I'll tell you what. Thus
saith the Lord, hadn't changed, has it? Don't matter what man think or
say. God's still sovereign, isn't he? We still have the freedom
to preach the gospel in this country. And I praise God for
that. We have the freedom and the liberty
to do that. And that all comes from God's
will and purpose, right? So I don't have to stress out
about that stuff. My God's in control. Now I'm
aware of things going on, but I don't have to let it consume
me, do I? No. Let us rest in the sovereignty
of God. And you know, that's one thing
we've seen through the apostles and even Stephen, we're gonna
see it through the chapter seven as well. They're just trusting
God. They trust in the sovereignty.
Whatever happens to them is by God's will and decree. We can't
change that, can we? We get upset sometimes and murmur
about it. We all do that. There's not one
of us that don't. But don't change anything, does
it? Just remember the Lord's ever
with us. And Stephen's going to go through some stuff here.
And the Lord's ever with him. Right to the end. And then took
him home. We saw what Paul went through in our study in the closing
message of Galatians. We saw what Paul, all those things.
Paul, he was beaten with a rod three times, five times beaten,
40 stripes less one, 39 stripes, five times. Shipwrecked three times, I think
it was. All those things he went through
and all those things he suffered for the glory of God. For the
glory of God. My oh my. And we've read in the
context of our verses of 8 to 15 that these unbelieving Jews,
they violently opposed the gospel, didn't they? We've seen it even
in the preceding chapters. They violently opposed the gospel,
beating the apostles. For doing what? For preaching
Christ. Preaching the resurrection. And
I love what Peter said. Do we obey God and man? Well,
of course you obey God, right? It's better to obey God than
man. Oh my. And look at verse 10. I love
this verse. And they were not able to resist
the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Can't fight God. All the wisdom that he had came
from God. Right? Everything he knows about
Christ comes from God. They can't resist it. They can't
resist. See, man shakes their fist and
tries to resist God. God just laughs at them, the
scripture says. I always think of these people
that say, well, I don't believe what you say. I don't believe
in that, what do they call them now? Some people call them just
some, oh, I can't even remember, Sky Genie or something like this,
just awful stuff they say. And I'm thinking, God's just
laughing at you. He's going to mock your calamity. And I always pray for those folks,
even though I don't know who they are. They're usually on
those news sites and the comments. Pray for them. Don't know who
they are, but pray for them. Lord, if it be your will, save
them, please. But you just see what God took us out of. Because
we were all there. Oh, my. Stephen was a lost Jew
until the Lord saved him. He knew the law inside and out, but he was a faithful man. And
all these men from different synagogues, I believe they were
from different places, they were gathered to dispute with him. Stephen, being a well-educated
man, tutored by Gamaliel, the best-known teacher of the Law
of Moses. At that time, same man again
that Paul, who we saw was known as Saul before his conversion,
of Taurus sat under. And again, I'm going to say it
again, Stephen knew more about the Law of Moses than any of
those men that he faced. They were disputing with him,
and he knew more about the law than they did. And he knew who
fulfilled the law, too, didn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when our Lord Jesus regenerated
Stephen's mind, he was born again with the truths of the gospel,
and what the true purpose of the law was, we see that he stopped
the mouths of the gainsayers, didn't he? That's what's happening
right there. The mouth of the gainsayer is
being stopped. They're not able to resist the
wisdom and the power of God the Holy Spirit. Who's given Stephen these words
to speak? The Lord. My oh my. Let's read verses 11
to 14 now. And they suborned men which said,
we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against
God. So what they did was they went
out and hired a bunch of fellows. They went out and hired a bunch
of guys. And they said, we've heard him
speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. And they
stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and came
upon him and caught him and brought him to the council. All Stephen's done is preach
the gospel, done miracles. And then these folk come, they
start disputing with him about what he believes, and he just
answers them. He told them about Christ, didn't
he? He told them about the way, the truth, and the life. He told
them that there's only salvation in Christ alone. And he showed how Christ fulfilled
the law in our room and place. You know what that did? That
made those fellas' works nothing. Absolutely nothing. And what
happened? They got mad, didn't they? Many times I've seen people,
I'll be talking to them and I'll tell them, you know, you're just
a sinner like me and you need to be saved. People don't like
being called sinner. Oh, it is, dude. It is, man. And I remember it was before
the Lord saved me, too. And you even bring yourself in
and say, well, you're just like me. They don't like that. They don't
like that, beloved. But do we lie to them or tell
them the truth? We've got to tell them the truth,
don't we? We're all sinners in need of a Savior. We don't know
who God's people are, so we tell everyone. We tell them about
Christ. My. And they said, born men, which
said, we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against
God. And they stirred up the people and the elders. All the
people got all worked up, and the elders got all worked up,
and the scribes. And came upon him, and caught him, and brought
him to the council. This is mob? I'll tell you what.
This is mob mentality right here. Mob mentality. The Romans had
mob rule basically within their within their country. They had
senators and all that, but I'll tell you what. You ever see those
movies with the gladiators and stuff? The emperor's got his hand out
and the people are saying, they got their thumbs up, save him,
save him, save him. Now if he turns his thumb down and those
people turn against him, he's in trouble. He's always going
to give them what they want. And so these folks, I'll tell
you what, they are worked up into a frenzy. They hate the
gospel. They hate Christ. And remember,
there'd been a bunch of priests that'd been converted. Remember
we saw that last week, that little piece? There'd been a bunch of
priests that the Lord saved. Oh my. And it says here, and they set
up false witnesses and said, this man seeth not to speak blasphemous
words against this holy place and the law. For we heard him
say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and
shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. Now there's
something right there we're going to look into. Stephen, again, not only knew
the gospel of God's grace in and through Christ, But he boldly
preached it as well, in the face of hostile opposition. He knew
these unbelieving Jews he was disputing with were enemies of
God in their minds. That's what we all are by birth.
All of us. And he knew they were enemies
in their minds of Christ, and enemies in their minds of the
gospel, and enemies in their minds of the people of God. We
see that with Saul of Taurus, right? He experienced that. Now think of that. He's writing
that we were enemies in our minds with God. He actually experienced
it just like we did, didn't he? We saw they laid the cloak of
Stephen at his feet, and he probably just thought that was wonderful.
Stamping out that sect. Scripture says in Galatians,
he's laying waste to it. He's trying to destroy it. He's
trying to stamp it out. And I'm telling you, this isn't
just, oh, we're going to put you in some chains. We're going
to kill you. They're trying to destroy it.
My, oh, my. Now, think of the freedom we
have now to preach the gospel. This is glorious, isn't it? My
prayer is the Lord will just keep the door open, eh? It's
wonderful. Wonderful. My, oh, my. And this faithful, dedicated
servant of our Lord Jesus Christ knew the kingdom of God was not
meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. He also knew that God's kingdom
was not of this world, God's kingdom is not of this
world, is it? No. Not at all of this world. That's
why we seek a better country. Our home is in glory, beloved.
This world isn't our home. What's that old song? This world
is not my home, I'm just a passing through. We're strangers and
pilgrims, the scripture says. Traveling through this world
of woe. My, and Stephen being called
out of the darkness, he'd been translated into the eternal kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stephen wasn't looking for our
Lord Jesus Christ to come and set up a kingdom, no. No, not
at all. No kingdom on this earth. He
wasn't looking for Jesus to come to the temple and sit upon an
earthly throne, no. He knew, he'd been taught by
the Holy Spirit of God that this kingdom was not of this world.
He knew that Jesus Christ was seated on his eternal throne
in heaven, just as he is right now. He's a monarch, isn't he? We've forgotten what kings are.
He's a king. Back in the days, kings ruled
supreme over the land. He is the supreme ruler. What's
his titles? King of kings and Lord of lords. That's our savior. That's our
Lord, beloved. There's a lot in the title, isn't
there? Tells you a lot. He has a name above all names. That means everyone and everything
is under him. There's nothing above him. Everything's
below him. Everything's subject to him.
And yet men say foolish things about our king. Well, we were
there too, right? But now, for the grace of God,
now we praise him. Oh, that song we sang of the
deep, deep love of Jesus, vast as an ocean. You can't measure
it. You can't measure this love. that God has for his people. Now think about this, too. Look at verse 14. For we have
heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this
place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. Now,
in a few years, in 70 A.D., Jerusalem would be sacked. It
would be ruined by the Romans. It would be devastated. Everything in it, the temple,
the altars of sacrifice, the animal sacrifices, the innermost
sanctuary, the mercy seat, the throne on which the earthly kings
had for hundreds of years sat, in Jerusalem would be destroyed. And the judgment of God was going
to fall upon these unbelieving Jews who had just recently crucified
our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read that verse again.
For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall
destroy this place, that happened in 70 A.D., and shall change
the customs which Moses delivered us." Now the customs of national
Israel, they've been changed by the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know why? He fulfilled all those things
that typified him under the Mosaic economy. This has already happened. Isn't that amazing? Just as he
said it would. Oh my. Think of this. God will
never accept another animal sacrifice. People say, well, they got to
rebuild the temple in Israel so they can reinstitute the sacrifices. Why? God won't accept it. God won't accept those sacrifices. All those Old Testament sacrifices
typified Christ, right? So the fulfillment of all those
types and shadows, and without the shedding of blood, there's
no remission of sin, right? We know that all those offerings
couldn't take away sin, so why would they want to offer them
up again? Can't take away sin. The sin bearer's already come.
The sin of the sacrifice has already died in the room and
place of its people. God's justice is already satisfied.
I preach a finished work. God's justice and law against
us is satisfied, beloved. Oh, let us rejoice. All our sins
are bought and paid for. 2,000 years ago. It's already done. When I see
the blood, oh, I'll pass over you. Isn't that wonderful, beloved? God sees the blood of Christ
on us. He passed right over us. Oh my, judgment passes. Oh, are you washed? Are you washed
under that blood? The soul-cleansing blood of the
Lamb? Oh my! Oh my! So God won't accept any more
animal sacrifices? Again, all those sacrifices just
typified Christ, who is the fulfillment of those sacrifices. And Israel's high priest typified
the Lord Jesus Christ. We only have one high priest,
don't we? We only have one, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. They all
just typified him, but they were, see, they were sinners and he's
sinless. My oh my. See where the shadow
on type breaks down? He's the sinless, spotless, high
priest of God, the Lamb of God. So he's the high priest and he's
the Lamb. And he's also the king, isn't he? All three offices.
He's prophet, priest, and king. Woo! I tell you, it's exciting! It's exciting. This is who our
king is. This is who our Lord is. My oh
my. And in the innermost sanctuary,
which was called the holiest of holiest, where the mercy seat
sat, and the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sin atoning
sacrifice once a year on the day of atonement, typified our
great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down his life
as our sin atoning sacrifice. And see, Peter, James, John,
Stephen, they all preach this. This is what they preach, that
salvation's only in and through Christ. The resurrection only
comes through Christ. And the blood that was sprinkled
on the mercy seat in the holiest of the holies, typified the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ that made, now we can say this, full
atonement. Not partial atonement. Full atonement
for all our sins. Full. Which means what? We're released, aren't we? Oh
my. Isn't the Lord wonderful? full
atonement for the sins of all his chosen people, a number that
no man can number. Could you imagine what the Lord
was feeling when our sins started to be placed upon him? And the
sins of all God's elect started to be placed upon him? No wonder
he sweat great drops of blood. Oh my. In the innermost sanctuary where
God met with Israel's high priest, that typifies heaven, beloved.
Where Jesus entered in after he died, he entered into heaven
itself, not without blood, right? With his own blood. With his
own blood to appear in the presence of God for those he laid down
his life for. So the customs of Israel have
been changed, including even the throne where the King of
Israel sat. And those things, they won't
be reinstated. People trying to do all that
stuff over in the Middle East, oh, we're going to do this, we're
going to do that. Why? There's no need for animal sacrifices. There's no need for a temple.
Christ built a spiritual temple, didn't he, out of his people. My, oh, my. My, oh, my. Those things have been done
away forever. Christ is the final sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God. He's it. He's it. He's the one who was sacrificed
for the sins of God's people, and God is absolutely satisfied
with that sacrifice. Aren't you thankful? I'm sure thankful. I'm so thankful
that God's satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ in my room
and place. Because I could never save myself. Could you? Could
never redeem ourselves. Could never regenerate ourselves.
You know what we can do? We can just get in worse and
worse shape. That's what we can do. We're real good at that.
Even after we're saved. Oh my, but praise God our sins
are forgiven. Praise God we're washed in the
blood of Christ. I'll tell you why. We might have
to change the song, Are You Washed in the Blood, maybe we might
have to change that last song. Oh my, because we are washed
in the blood, beloved, cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. And think of this, God's law
and justice is absolutely satisfied when it comes to his people. We will never face judgment,
because Christ, Christ received all the wrath of God that was
due us, was poured out on him. Spurgeon said, he said, God unseathed
his sword of justice and plunged it into the heart of Christ.
My, in our Roman place, what love, what goodness, what mercy,
that God would not spare his son but spare us. And you remember
the words, remember this? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? You ever think of this? God the
Father forsook Christ so that we would never be forsaken. Because what does God promise
in Hebrews? I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. God forsook God so that we'd never be forsaken.
We'd never be, he's always with us. Now I'll tell you why. That's
love. Think of the love God the Father
has for us if he's done that. And he did do it, didn't he?
Think of the eternal love of God that he has for his people.
It's absolutely incredible. I'll tell you what, you can't
measure. As we sang in that song, that love of God is an ocean,
vast, unmeasurable. We can't measure it. And the
cost of our redemption, the cost of the fact that we'd never be
forsaken is the blood of Christ. dying in our room and place.
And where is he now? So he suffered and he died and
he bled, right? For the redemption of all his
promised children. Stephen preached this, the apostles
preached this, our preachers today preach this, I preach this,
that there's only salvation in Christ alone, nowhere else. And
we're redeemed by the blood of Christ. Washed clean. So where is he right now? He's
sitting on his throne, beloved. God not left us alone, has he?
He's still with us, isn't he? Oh, my. The Father forsook the
Son so that we'd never be forsaken. Oh, my. We get a hold of that,
that'll bless us so much. In life and death, in trials
and tribulations, in sickness and health. He says, I'm ever
with you. You're mine. You're mine by creation and you're
mine by purchase too. And I've loved you with an everlasting
love. I've loved you, he tells us,
before you even loved me. I loved you when you were dead
in your sins. I loved you before you were even conceived. I loved
you from eternity. My! No wonder the scripture says
it's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. Think of the goodness of God
towards we who are his people. So our Lord, he's sitting on
the throne in glory right now. Right now. Sovereign Lord. And
you know what, he's coming again. He's coming again. Oh, he's coming
again, beloved. He's coming again in flame and
fire. I'll tell you why. Taking vengeance on those who
do not know God, on those who do not obey the gospel of his
darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Stephen had been arrested by
these unbelieving Jews who bought him before the very ones, the
same council that Peter and the other apostles had stood before.
The same ones that hated the apostles were preaching Christ.
The same ones who were Christ deniers, who had scorched the
apostles, whipped them, and beat them. And Stephen knew how merciless
these men were. They showed no mercy. and how they had treated the
apostles. And he would no doubt be expecting the same treatment,
right? Maybe even worse. But let's look at, how does he
react to that? Look at verse 15. And all that
sat in the council looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had
been the face of an angel. My, oh my. Turn if you would
to Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21. Stephen was here engaged in our
Lord's cause, wasn't he? He is brought before the council
for the testimony of Christ. And look at this over here in
Luke 21. We're gonna see, this has come to pass. Our Lord said this was going
to happen. And think of our beloved brothers
and sisters who are being persecuted through the ages. You want to know a little bit
about persecution, pick up Fox's book of Christian martyrs. It'll make your face leak. when you start reading about
what our dear brothers and sisters went through. But look at this
here. Luke chapter 21, starting in verse 12, and we'll read to
verse 17. But before all these things,
they shall lay their hands on you. Now there's that little
word shall again, right? It's going to happen. It's going
to happen. And persecute you, delivering
you up to the synagogues and into prisons. We've already seen
that in Acts chapter 5, haven't we? being bought before kings
and rulers for my name's sake. That'll happen to Paul down the
road. And it shall be, and it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts,
not to meditate before what you shall answer. Don't sit there
and think, what am I going to say? That's what he's telling
them. Don't sit there and, because
you know what happened? Their minds get twisted all up. Know this. Settle therefore,
and this is the Master speaking. Settle therefore in your hearts
not to meditate before what ye shall answer. For I will give
you a mouth and wisdom. We see, we've seen that in our
text today. They couldn't, they couldn't answer Peter, or they
couldn't answer Stephen. They could not answer him. For
I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall
not be able to gain, say, nor resist. My oh my. We've seen that, haven't
we, in Acts chapter 6. My oh my. And ye shall be betrayed both
by parents and brethren, kinsfolk and friends, and some of you
shall they cause to be put to death. We've seen that with Stephen
at the end of chapter 7. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. See, the world hates Christ. And if someone you know, if someone you know treats you different
because now you're a believer, don't marvel about that. It's
Christ in you they hate. That's what it is. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory they hate. And don't marvel that they hate you, because
you'll be hated. Look at this. And ye, what? Shall
be hated of all men for my name's sake. It's going to happen. It's
going to happen. But what a precious promise our
Lord gives to his people here. Think of this, the Great Redeemer,
the Sovereign King, the Lord of Glory, gives his people grace. When it's always suitable, he
says, I'll give you the words. He gives grace, doesn't he, in
time of need, whenever it's suitable. So you ever feel like, Lord,
are you hearing me? Yeah, he is. He is. And he's watching over you. He's watching every breath you
take. And he'll take care of you, no
matter what you're going through, no matter what trial we find
ourselves in. You know, God's grace is always
suitable for the circumstance we're going through. Isn't that
amazing? No matter what circumstance we
find ourselves going through in life, God's grace is always
suitable and sufficient, isn't it? Always. And he gives grace to help in
what? Time of need. We see that when he says, I'll
give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall
not be able to gain, say, nor resist. I'll give you that. That's
a promise. That's a promise from the Master. As thy day is, thy strength shall
be. And let us remember it always comes from the Lord, as without
Him we can do nothing, right? He's the vine and what? What
are we? We're the branches. You break a branch off a tree,
what happens? It ain't gonna produce nothing, is it? Just
a branch, dead branch now. But if it's attached to that
vine, what gives it all the nutrients to bud in the spring? If it's
a fruit tree, to produce fruit, the vine. All the nutrients come
up through that vine. Without me, Christ says, you
can do nothing. I can do nothing without Christ.
I can't preach without Christ. My oh my. And our Lord will ever be with
his people, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in. Every hour,
every hour, every hour, every second, we're going to see Stephen's
hour of death is fast approaching. Oh my, Lord lift up the the light
of thy countenance upon your people's souls, that when we
awake we shall be satisfied, satisfied with thy likeness,
and behold thy face in righteousness. Stephen, Stephen woke up and
beheld the Lord's face in righteousness, beloved. Soon as he breathed
his last breath here, he beheld the Lord in righteousness. My, oh my, It's wonderful. And what can we learn from this
text that we've looked at today? Well, we can know, we can learn
that the gospel is offensive to man. The gospel is offensive
to man. The teaching and preaching of
Christ and Him alone as the Savior and as the Redeemer and no works
of man is absolutely offensive to man. It offends man's pride. It offends man's pride. And think
of this, here these religious men, they're being told plainly
by Stephen, that Stephen's doctrine was the
truth that God revealed in the Holy Scriptures, which is the
Old Testament, of course, and they could not resist his arguments,
and yet they still would not yield to his claims of Christ.
That's how every one of us is by nature. Praise to God. He makes us willing in the day
of his power and gives us faith to believe. being born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, given faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we'd be just like
these religious folks here. Oh, is God's grace not wonderful? Is it not boundless? Is his love
not boundless, beloved? Oh, these folks, they despised
what Stephen was teaching, and you know what? It's no different
today. I talk to people all the time
about salvation in and through Christ alone. And they always
say, well, what about my free will? I didn't say that, did
I? I said salvation's only in Christ
alone. But what about my free will?
Your will is bound to your nature. You're a slave to sin, just like
I was. Now I'm a sinner saved by grace.
And all who trust on Christ That's what we're called, right? I'm
only a sinner. I love that song. I'm only a
sinner, saved by grace. That's all I am, right? Nothing
more, beloved. Nothing more. Just a sinner saved
by grace. Oh my. And think of this, until
a sinner's heart is changed, right, until they're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, they will not receive the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And salvation by grace, through
the merits of the crucified substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, is received
by faith alone, and it's without works. And to the world, that's
foolishness. The world looks at that and says,
that's absolutely tomfoolery. But not to the believer, is it?
We're in awe. And see, It's an offense to unbelievers.
It offends their pride. It offends their religious notions. It offends the love of self.
And it's a front to their self-righteousness. Because when we're saved, like
Scott Richardson used to say, when we're saved, we find out
we're a bunch of zeros who now know about the one. My, and we don't graduate from
being zeros, do we? Nope. Let me stay here. I'm only a
sinner saved by grace. I don't want to graduate past
that. Because isn't that what we're
going to be saying in heaven too? Unto him that washed us
with his blood. Oh, we're just sinners saved
by grace, beloved. And any man who boldly declares
the gospel of Christ to the lost and unbelieving religionists
will be marked by them as an enemy." We've had it happen many
times, just for telling the truth. Look at Galatians 4.16 again,
and I am therefore, or no, think of this, think of this in light
of, remember when we were studying Galatians and Paul wrote to the
Galatians and he said, am I therefore now your enemy because I tell
you the truth? Stephen's telling these folks
the truth. And in their eyes, he's their enemy. My, oh my. Acts 6.15 shows us
that God is faithful to his blood-bought people. Stephen's conscience
was pure and free from guilt. His sins were bought and paid
for. My, oh my. And even against the
charges that they were bringing against him, he knew they were
lies, so he was free from the guilt of those, because he knew
that's just a bunch of lies. And what he had said and done
for the glory of God, he knew he'd done nothing but to serve
and honor God. And it was all according to the
will of God, in the interest of the kingdom of God. Therefore,
in the face of death, we see he's calm and courageous. That
only comes from the Lord, doesn't it? So much so that his face
looked as bright and happy and radiant as the face of an angel. So what an example we have set
before us with Stephen for us to be faithful servants to Christ,
our God. And in the hour of Stephen's
greatest need, the Lord never forsook him. Never forsook him. And if we willingly serve him
in all things, here use us as he sees fit for his glory and
for his honor. And here give us the grace to
do his will. And next week, Lord willing, We're going to have
to break down Stephen's sermon because it's 50 verses long,
I believe. Begins in Acts 7 and goes all
the way to Acts 7.50, if you want to read ahead. And in verses
51 to 53, which we read earlier, Stephen brings strong indictments
against the high priest and the council, which ultimately leads
to his death. But the moment he breathed his
last breath here, he was in the presence of the
Lord, beholding his face in righteousness. What a hope we have. What a hope
we have in Christ, beloved. Let us leave here rejoicing in
our wonderful, merciful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
fact that he saved us. He saved our eternal souls. Glory
to his name.