Let's begin reading in Acts 7. I'm sorry, Acts 8. I'm going to get this right in
a minute. Acts 7. I was right the first time. Acts
7. We're not going to go back to
the context of this stoning of Stephen, how it took place and
why. Just suffice it to say that he
had roused up the religious powers. He was preaching that Jesus,
that they had crucified, like the other preachers, apostles,
and those who had crucified him hated that message, as we can
well understand. And that's what led to what we're
about to read right now. It's coming to a climax. Verse
54, when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and
they gnashed on him with their teeth. Man, they were in a rage
of insanity, weren't they? But he, that is Stephen, being
full of the Holy Ghost and looking up steadfastly into heaven, saw
the glory of God and Jesus Christ standing on the right hand of
God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son
of God standing on the right hand of God. Now, Stephen's about
to be stoned. He's about to die. His skull's
about to be crushed. But he doesn't change his message.
He's being stoned for what he had preached. But he goes ahead
and gives it to them even plainer. I see the Son of God standing
on the right hand of God. Verse 57. Then they cried. That didn't sit too well with
them, did it? Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped
their ears. We don't hear this. And ran up
on Him with one accord. But you know what? Jesus Christ
standing at the right hand of God. that place of power and
authority, that place reserved for only one, himself, all their
rage, all their acts to prevent it, didn't change a thing. All
their gnashing of teeth, all their rocks that they could hurl,
didn't change the fact that Jesus Christ is almighty God and he's
still standing there at the right hand of God with all power. Verse
58, they cast him out, that is Stephen, they cast him out of
the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. That's the
first mention we have of Saul, Paul of Tarsus. You've heard
talk about first impressions. So what's your impression of
this young man, if we didn't know what we already know about
him? They laid their clothes at a young man's feet, whose
name was Saul. Why Saul didn't hurl the stones
himself, I do not know. I've read speculation about why,
perhaps due to his age or something, but I guarantee It wasn't because
he didn't want to, was it, John? He did all he could. He said,
I'll tell you what, I might not be allowed to join you in the
stoning for whatever reason, but let me hold you close. Let
me pick up a stone for you. Let me root you on. Verse 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling
upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled
down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep." What a contrast. That is, from where we began
at verse 54, this crowd, these religious zealots, these blind
leaders of the blind, trying to stop their ears, gnashing
up on Stephen with their teeth, getting ready to hurl stones,
telling a young man named Saul, would you hold our cloaks so
nothing can hinder us from throwing it as hard as we can? Now picture
that, and now picture this. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. Could there be more difference
in two pictures? That's the difference in the
children of this religious world and a true child of God. They
carry on, they vomit out their profanity, but the children of
God are still children of God. And when the time comes, when
Christ calls them home, no matter what means he may do so, they
just fall asleep in the arms of Jesus Christ, despite everyone
else that tries to change it. I was leaving the hotel room
this morning. Robin came over to the house
before I did. And as I was leaving, I passed
the desk there in the lobby. There was a lady there named
Benji, a black woman. I've dealt with her for years
on the phone when I would make reservations for the preachers
that were here. And she's always been so courteous
and always gives us what she said I remember the first time
I called her and said, this is Pastor Chris. I've got some fellas
coming down. Oh, Pastor. OK. OK. We'll give you all a
discount. I said, well, we'll take it.
But just a very nice lady. But I'd never seen her before
until a couple of mornings ago. But anyway, she was on duty as
I walked through the lobby. And I said, well, Miss Benji,
good morning to you. I'm going to go to the house
now. I know I got cleaned up, but
I'm going to go put on a suit and go preach. She said, OK,
OK, that's good. What are you preaching on this
morning, she said. I said, Act 7, the stoning of Stephen. Verse 56, Behold, Stephen said,
I see the heavens opened and the Son of God standing on the
right hand of God. It's like this, Benji. Stephen
seemed to say, you go ahead and throw your stones. It doesn't
matter to me because I'm going home. Benji said, ooh, that sounds
like a good one. Go preach it. I said, I'm going to try. I'm
going to try. The title of the message is Stephen's
Going Home Service. Now, Bobby, you know when you
post these on Free Grace, they need a title and a text. I mean,
you can't just put something up blank. But I kind of, I hadn't
decided on the title until this morning. I looked at that and I thought,
well, is that a good title? That might not be appropriate
because of a going home service? That's what the brochure for
Brother Don Fortner's funeral service said. Bold black letters. Don Fortner's going home service.
Same way with Lindsey Campbell. Lindsey's going home service.
And I thought, but this is somewhat different. It wasn't in an assembly
of people who loved him. people who would miss him terribly,
especially God's people, especially the church. That wasn't the case
here with Stephen. So is that a good title? Then
I thought a little more about it and I thought, I believe it
is. I believe it is. It wasn't a formal service by
no means, of course not. It was attended not by friends
but by enemies. There wasn't a friend in the
bunch, except one. except one, the friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. It was attended by the Son of
God. That's what Stephen said. I see
the Son of God. Oh, we can't stand that one.
Let me repeat it. I see the Son of God. It was
attended by Jesus Christ himself, and Jesus saw, or rather, Stephen
saw Jesus Christ with his arms wide open saying, come on. Come on up. Come on up here and
be with me. Welcome to glory. And Stephen fell asleep in the
arms of Jesus Christ. In verse 58 here, we briefly
mentioned it, but in verse 58, we have another example. And
this encouraged me. Oh, I've read this many times.
But this encouraged me to be reminded of it. I needed encouragement
in this matter of lost loved ones, lost sons, daughters, grandchildren,
as with you. But verse 58, and cast him out
of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid their
clothes at the young man's feet, whose name was Saul. Now, we
have the privilege of knowing what God would do with Saul.
I mean, if we stopped here, if this is all we ever heard about
Saul, we would think, what a scoundrel, what a lowlier, what a horrible
young man, wonder what became of him. Well, we know what became
of him. If you were just standing there
looking at this young man and someone eased up next to you,
And so let me tell you, you see that young man over there? You
see him cursing? You see that young man that hates
it? Don't say Jesus, don't mention Jesus of Nazareth around here,
he'll slap you in the face. But let me tell you something.
What if I told you that that young man there holding their
cloaks and just like a cheerleader, throw another one, throw another
one, hit his head. What if I told you that he's
a trophy of God's grace? What would you think of that?
Would you believe that? Would you even believe that?
It's almost too hard to believe. And nobody believes that, I think
it was Don that used to say, except a fool and a Christian. But this is another example of
what we read in God's Word. Where sin abounded, grace doth
much more abound. Am I the only one that feels
like I need reminded of that? I don't think so. I believe every
father, every mother, everyone who has a friend, relation, a
husband, wife, whatever the case may be, parents that don't know
the Lord Jesus Christ need to be reminded of that. Does His
grace still abound? Is Jesus Christ still mighty
to save? Is Jesus Christ still the same yesterday and today
and forever? Can Jesus Christ, no matter how
far that prodigal son or daughter may wander, no matter how deep
they may fall into the pit of their own depravity and sin,
the arm of God Almighty is not shortened that he cannot save. His ear is not heavy that it
cannot hear. Oh, Lord remind me of that. Give me a fresh application of
that precious, precious truth, cause I need it. I need it, honestly. Probably need it more than anybody
else here. Cause I see them wonder. And one, it's like the messengers
of Job. The tales about their circumstances,
one after the other. They just get worse and worse.
And I'm tempted to think there's just not much hope. Just not
much hope. And there wouldn't be, except
for this, where sin abounded. Where sin abounded, grace doth
much more abound. This reminds me, this glimpse
at Saul of Tarsus here at the stoning of Stephen, at Stephen's
homecoming, homegoing, it reminds me of what happened one time
when our Lord was going to the house of a ruler. This is in
Luke chapter 8, you can turn there if you like. In Luke chapter
8, you know this story, it's very familiar. Verse 41, this
is what you might call, and this glimpse at Saul of Tarsus is
sort of a reminder to me of what happened here, what happened
in our Lord's life many, many times while he was here. Grace by the wayside, so to speak. He's on his way to grant grace,
life, power and mercy to the daughter of Jarius. And while
he goes, he's stopped, he's interrupted. But look at verse 41 here in
Luke, Luke 8. And behold, there came a man
named Jarius, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He wasn't just
your He wasn't just an ordinary Joe, he was somebody. And he
fell down at Jesus' feet, and beside him, that he would come
into his house. He was desperate now, he was
desperate. I don't know who else he might
have gone to seeking help, but he was desperate. Now he's ready
to bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 42, For he had
only one daughter, just one daughter, about twelve years of age, and
she lay a dying. She was on death's bed. But as
he went, the people thronged him. The people thronged him. Now, if that wasn't enough to
slow him down, I mean, there was a multitude of people. Uriah's
daughter is dying. There's no time to waste. If this multitude, this press
that he couldn't hardly move through, was not enough to slow
him down. Here comes a woman, look at verse
43, and a woman having an issue of blood 12 years, which had
spent all of her living upon physicians, neither could be
healed of any, came behind him and touched the border of his
garment, and immediately her issue of blood was stopped. Can
you imagine the thoughts of this grieving father as he stood back
watching all this? I mean, He goes from the mountaintop
to the lowest valley, I imagine, because when Jesus, in answer
to his request, would you come to my house? I've got one daughter
and she's dying. She's all I've got and she's
dying. And Jesus begins to follow him. Oh, he thinks, well, there
may be hope. There's hope. He's coming. He
didn't refuse me. At least he's coming. He's coming
to my house. Oh, what an honor. What an honor.
He doesn't have to, but he's doing it. No sooner, it seems,
than they got started, Christ has stopped. He stopped in his
tracks. By the throne, by the press,
and then by this poor woman. Again, I ask you, can you imagine
the thoughts in the mind of this grieving father? All hope, I imagine, he thought,
is gone now. And look down here at verse 49. While the Lord was dealing with
this woman that he healed, as only he could, who fell down
before him, confessing that he had healed her, he says, go your
way. Your faith's made you whole.
Go in peace. And while this was taking place, verse 49, while
he was yet speaking those words, there comes one from the ruler
of the synagogue's house saying to him, thy daughter is dead.
Trouble not the master. Wow. What a message. Thy daughter is dead. Why bother
now? Don't waste your time or his
time anymore. She's dead. She's dead. Now,
even a minute before this, if he'd have got here a minute before
this, perhaps there was reason to hope. But not now. It's pointless to continue to
the house of Jarius, because she's dead. But was all hope gone? Was all hope gone? Was there not even a glimmer
of hope left? Let me answer that this way.
Yes. All hope is gone. She's dead. Go get the high priest and let
him stand before that cold corpse of that young child and say,
arise and see what happens. Go get all the doctors of divinity
in town and get them around her and shout and throw dust in the
air and speak in tongues and do all kinds of other religious
foolishness and see what happens. She's still dead. She's dead.
And she's going to stay dead unless, unless Jesus Christ is
everything he said he was. Unless Jesus Christ, there's
hope, there's hope for her even now, though she's dead. Unless
Jesus Christ was an imposter. Like young Saul here was convinced
that he was. If he was really not the son
of God, if he really did not have all power in heaven and
earth like he claimed, And if what he said to another broken-hearted
one at another grave site, at another tomb, unless this was
a lie, then all hope is gone. When he said to grieving Martha,
I'm the resurrection and the life. Lord, my brother's been
dead four days. Don't roll away the stone. You
won't be able to stand the smell. I am the resurrection and the
life, he said to her. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever, whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Now let's bring it on down
to where the rubber meets the road. You believe that, John
Copeland? You really believe that? That's what he asked Martha. Believest thou this? You believe that? You believe
what I'm telling you is true? Do you really believe I'm who
I say I am? Now Martha, she was a believer. She was a believer. But on this
occasion, Her face seemed to waver a little bit because she
thought the Lord was talking about the resurrection at the
last day, up in the sky in the sweet bye-bye. And it didn't
seem to offer any comfort to her aching heart at that very
moment. I know he'll rise again, Lord, in the resurrection at
the last day. And the Lord said, I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about right now. I'm talking about right now. The
resurrection, the life is standing right in front of you. I'm the
resurrection. I'm the life. There's a good
article by Brother Henry Mahan along this line in your article.
It's brief. I took it from a message he preached in 87 or whatever. But that portion of it said salvation. I've learned this, Henry said,
reflections of 60 years. I think I heard Henry preach
one. Reflections of 80 years one time in Danville. But he
was 60 when he preached that message, and he said, one thing
I've learned, salvation is in a person. Salvation is not in
a church. Salvation is not in a decision.
Salvation is not in Arminian doctrine. Salvation is not in
Calvinistic doctrine. Salvation is in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Larry, everybody knows
that. They do not either. Most professing
Christians don't know that. They're trusting what they did
for Jesus instead of what Jesus Christ, God Almighty, has done
for them. I want to know Him. Don't you? I want to know Him. I'm not taking
your word for it. I love you, Robin. You're my
wife. But I'm not taking your word that I'm a believer. I'm
not going to take your word. You don't know. I want to know
Him. I want to really know him. I
don't want to know him by second-hand knowledge. When I was a young
boy living up that holler, y'all getting tired of hearing that
about the holler? But I had two older brothers and two younger
brothers. There was nine of us at home. My daddy was a coal
miner. He didn't make much money. Not then, not in those days.
And man, how they fed and clothed us, I look back and oh, My father,
anytime somebody mentioned that, they'd say, Jim, JB, how do you
manage? He said, go ask their mother.
She's the one that handles that. I don't know how she does it. But when another school year
rolled around, we didn't go and buy new clothes. No, if one of
my oldest brother's clothes that were wore out fit me, that's
what I wore. That's what I wore. Hand-me-downs.
Well, that was okay. That was okay, but I don't want
to hand me down religion. I don't want to base my hope
of glory on a second-hand knowledge. I don't want to try to wear the
garments of another man, like David said concerning Saul when
he said, I'll go out and fight that big mouth Goliath. And they
tried to suit him up in armor. David said, I can't function
in this. This is just not me. And he took it off. Give me my
sling, and I'll pick up some stones on the way. Oh, no. I want to know Christ myself
and I want to be wrapped in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I want, when my time comes
to leave this world, to be able to say, by God's grace, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit and have the same blessed experience,
the same sweet assurance of seeing Christ with arms wide open saying,
welcome home. Welcome home. Is that an exaggeration? Am I expecting too much? No,
that's the promise of God. That's what the great shepherd
promised, didn't he, Billy? I'm never going to leave you.
When that time comes, when you've reached the final day, hour,
moment of walking through that valley, when that journey comes
to an end, I will be with you. I've been with you the whole
time. I've been with you the whole time. Thank God. Looky here at verse 50. I'm still in Luke chapter 8. Buts. There it is. There it is. Oh, there's that wondrous interjection. There's that marvel of mercy
introduced once again with that little word, but. All hope is
gone. Don't trouble the master. Don't
waste your time. Your daughter's done died. But. And they would have been exactly
right. I would have said the same thing, wouldn't you Terry?
If I'd heard the message, if I'd been at the house and watched
that young girl die, I wouldn't jerise. Don't waste your time.
Don't waste your time. That seems like a natural reaction,
except for this, verse 50, but, but when Jesus heard it, he answered
saying, fear not. Oh, how often he says that to
us, doesn't he? Because we're so fearful so much
of the time, but he says, fear not. Just like he told Martha,
believe only. And she shall be made whole. We know how it ended, don't we?
We know how this story ended. Jesus Christ, just exactly like
he told Martha, I'm the resurrection and the life. I have power. I have power, just like God has
power. When they hear my voice, when they hear the voice of the
Son of God, those that are dead are going to raise up. Those
who are dead physically, which was only a picture of those who
are dead spiritually. You had the Quicken, who were
dead. Dead! You'd still be dead. You might be sitting in religion,
but you'd still be dead. You wouldn't know God, as Don
said, from a goose. But God, who was rich in mercy,
for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were
dead, in sins had quickened us together. We know how this story
ended here in Luke 8. The Lord goes into that chamber
while they're mourning and says, weep not, she's not dead but
sleepeth. And they started laughing at
him, started mocking him. Are you serious? Who is this
man? But you know what happened? You know exactly what happened.
And what we read here concerning Saul of Tarsus, this young man,
to me is another example of what happened there. But God, but
God, but God is able to save to the uttermost the Lord Jesus
Christ is all that come unto God by Him. He's God Almighty. He'll do whatever He wants to
do. And again, back to Saul of Tarsus here in Acts 7. Sometime after this, not long
after this, I don't think it was long, Saul of Tarsus meets
his match. He's got a salad bag full of
warrants on his way to Damascus, and he meets not Jesus the imposter,
not Jesus the deceiver, but Jesus Christ, the mighty God, and Saul
comes down. What a testimony. This same young
man holding the cloaks of those who are stoning Stephen afterwards
said, I don't want to know nothing among anybody save Jesus Christ
and him crucified. At one time he hated that name.
Now he says, I don't want to hear anything else. I don't want
to preach anything else but Jesus Christ. What a change, what a
change. In Galatians 1 he said, y'all
know how I lived. It was common knowledge. This
thing wasn't done in a corner. I didn't try to cover it up.
Y'all all know the kind of man I was. Y'all know how I persecuted
the church. Y'all know that I wasted it.
Y'all know that I did everything I could to just stamp it out
of existence. But, but, when it pleased God,
when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to reveal his son in me. What a comfort
to know that Jesus Christ is at this very moment, as we gather
here, at this very moment, is that one who stands at the right
hand of God, exactly where Stephen saw him, having all power. If not, if not, he wouldn't be
at the right hand of God, would he? He wouldn't be at the right
hand of God. He wouldn't have that place of
honor if he didn't deserve it. Isn't that what God told him?
Is it in Psalm 2? The kings of the earth were gathered
together against Christ, against God's son. God said, I'll just
laugh and scorn. And after Christ accomplished
all he came to do, he said, I'll sit you up. Come up here, son.
Sit at my own right hand. Sit at my own until I make all
your enemies your footstool. If you had heard of a king, And
he had a son, a prince, who he'd sent out to fight a war, to confront
an enemy of his father's kingdom. And he marches out with his soldiers
and all those things, and he's... Oh, what a picture, what a picture.
There, the father sending his son. The prince is going out
to meet this enemy. He's leading the charge. He's
at the head of this thing. But he doesn't come back. Now
think about that. What if that prince didn't come
back? Months pass, years pass, and
he doesn't come back. Now what would you conclude?
He failed. He failed. He didn't come back
to the father's house. He didn't come back to his king's
kingdom, his father's kingdom. He must have failed. He must
have been overcome. If Jesus Christ is not right
now sitting on the right hand of God, after he came to this
earth to accomplish all that God Almighty gave him to do? If he didn't obtain eternal redemption
for his people, if he didn't put away their sins, if he wasn't
made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,
he wouldn't be at the right hand of God right now. He wouldn't
be there. That means he failed. The very
fact, brothers and sisters in Christ, is at this moment he
stands at the right hand of God, the Son of God, our Prince, he
succeeded. That tells me, that tells me
that he succeeded. He obtained our eternal redemption. That's what Stephen saw. That's
what this means when you see Christ standing at the right
hand of God. That means he did everything that he came here
to do. And that also means that one
day soon, just as he prayed, Father, I will also that all
those whom you have given me be with me where I am. That must
be, that must be answered. Billy, that must be answered.
Father, I will. And that's his father's will
too. That's why he went back to glory. I'm preparing a place
for you. And if I do, I'm not just doing
it for nothing. I'm coming back to take you to
that place. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.
He that began a good work in you will perform it until the
day of the Lord Jesus Christ. You've heard me say this many
times. And I've thought it often. And I find great comfort in this,
don't you? Jesus Christ is going to answer for me. Jesus Christ
is going to answer for me. If I believe on Christ and I
end up in hell, that's going to be His fault. His Father is
going to hold Him responsible for that. Oh, that gives me great
comfort because I know that's never going to happen. That's
never going to happen. That my Great Shepherd is going
to bring all of His sheep around the throne of His Heavenly Father
and bless His holy name, I'm going to be among them. I'm going
to be among them, see his face, and worship him with an unsinning
heart." My, so Stephen looks toward heaven. That's where his
heart was. That's where he wanted to go
before this ever took place. That was his goal. He wanted
to be where Jesus Christ was. He wanted to be with him. That's
what happens at death. For the child of God, he just
falls asleep in the arms of Jesus Christ, and he awakens in glory
to see him as he is and to be with him forever. It's as though
God Almighty, the Son of God, in this dying hour, that this
faithful man gave him a vision, as if to say, Stephen, look where
you're going. Look where you're coming, Stephen.
And like I told Benji, it was like Stephen told him, well,
you just go ahead and throw your stones. I'm going somewhere where
your stones can't reach me anymore. You won't hurt me. Go in stone.
And he fell asleep in Jesus. Let me wrap this up. I found
this poem. I remembered this poem, read
it years ago, and I was able to find it again. This is by
Robert Murray McShane. If I'm not mistaken, he died
as he was 29 years old, I think. But anyway, concerning this,
Stephen fell asleep. McShane wrote this. When Holy
Stephen dauntless stood before the Jews who sought his blood,
with angel face he looked on high, and wandering through the
parted sky, saw Jesus risen from the throne to claim the martyr
as his own. Angelic peace that sight bestowed,
with holy joy his bosom glowed, and while the murderous stones
they hurled, his heaven-wrapped soul sought yonder world. Of
rest my spirit's savior keep, he cried, he kneeled, he fell
asleep. Now this is for you and I, not
Steve. Yet still in whatsoever form, Death comes to me in midnight
storm, Whelming my bark or in my nest, Gently dismissing me
to rest, O grant me in thy word to see A risen Savior beckoning
me. Billy, you've dwelt here long
enough. It's time to come home. It's
time to come home. Oh, how soon that might be for
every one of us. And as the last word in the Word
of God says, even so, that'll be okay, even so, come Lord Jesus. God bless you, thank you for
your attention.