In the sixth and seventh chapters
of Acts, we read how the disciples gathered, chose seven men for
the work of God, one of whom was Stephen. We read in chapter
6 and verse 7 that the word of God increased and the number
of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And a great
company of the priests were obedient to the faith. And Stephen, full
of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the
people. Then there arose certain of the
synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines,
and Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of
Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist
the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborded
men, which said, We have 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, and set up false witnesses, which
said, This man ceaseth 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. Then said the high priest, are
these things so? And Stephen says, men, brethren
and fathers, hearken. And he goes on to give an account
of how God chose Abraham and called him out to the land of
the Chaldeans. and led him forth to a land that
he promised. And how Abraham had Isaac, and
then how Isaac had Jacob, how Abraham was given the covenant
of circumcision, and how Jacob begat the 12 patriarchs. 12 patriarchs
sold Joseph into Egypt. Joseph in Egypt was cast into
prison, unfairly accused, but became ultimately a ruler in
Egypt in the time of famine. This led, as we know, to Jacob
and his family moving to Egypt, and to the Hebrews multiplying
in Egypt, until they came under the rule of a pharaoh that knew
not Joseph, that was not favourable to the Hebrews, and he brought
them under great persecution. God then raised up Moses in their
midst, as one who would deliver them. But at first he was rejected
by those whom God would use him to deliver. The Hebrews cast
him out. They said unto him, who made
thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me as thou
didst the Egyptian yesterday? And Moses fled and went to land
of Midian. where he dwelt there for 40 years
until that day when in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the
Lord in a flame of fire in a bush appeared under him and the Lord
spake unto Moses and told him what he would do that he would
send him to Egypt that the Lord had heard the groaning of his
people. He had seen, he had seen the
affliction of my people, God says. He emphasises this twice,
I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people, which
is in Egypt. How strongly this is emphasised,
God knows. He knew what was happening to
them. He would deliver them. So he sends Moses to Egypt to
deliver them. And by his mighty hand, by the
hand of God, Moses leads the people forth. A people who had
first rejected him. Stephen reminds his hearers of
how Moses was given the law in Mount Sinai. and the customs
which they would follow. But how Moses had preached and
prophesied of a prophet to come of whom he was a figure, but
who would truly deliver God's people. Moses was sent as a prophet
to declare under the Hebrews the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when the Hebrews at the time
first encountered Moses, they rejected him, as they would later
reject Christ. Stephen goes on to remind the
people of King David, and how David wanted to build a house
for the Lord, but how his son Solomon built him that house.
But Stephen says in verse 48, How be it the Most High dwelleth
not in temples made with hands, as saith the Prophet? Heaven
is my throne, and earth is my footstool. What house will ye
build me, saith the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these
things? Stephen goes on and speaks directly
to his accusers. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your
fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one of whom ye have
been now the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it. And when they
heard these things they were cut to the heart and they gnashed
on him with their teeth but he being full of the Holy Ghost
looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and
Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said behold I see
the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right
hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud
voice and stopped there he is, 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 a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 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. And they stoned Stephen, who
was calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. They stoned him. They slew him. They murdered him. as they had
betrayed and murdered Christ the just one before him. They rejected Stephen as they
had rejected Christ and as their forefathers had rejected Moses. Yet this people's rage and accusation
against Stephen and the disciples who came preaching the gospel
was that Stephen and the other apostles and disciples were preaching
a message which undermined, which destroyed and attacked Moses. We have heard him speak blasphemous
words against Moses and against God. They set up false witnesses
which said this man ceased if not to speak blasphemous words
against this holy place and the law. They condemned him because
they said he spake against Moses. And so they set themselves up
as those who supported Moses and supported Moses' message
and Moses' customs and the law. And yet the reality was that
their forefathers, when they heard Moses, rejected him, saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? They cast out Moses. And if this generation had been
alive in the day of Moses, they too would have cast out Moses.
But here they are, pretending to be the friends of Moses. Now
the reality is, is that what they defended was not what Moses
preached. What they supported was not what
Moses brought in. But was their corruption and
their misunderstanding, their blindness in the religion, in
terms of the message that Moses came with. They took the form
that Moses commanded. They took the outward rituals
of the law. They took the commandments of
the law. And they saw the keeping of these
things as that which is important. when the reality was that the
message that Moses came with, the message to be seen in those
commandments of the law and those rituals of the priesthood and
the sacrifices, was a message which pointed unto Christ, the
very same Christ which this people had betrayed and murdered. Moses came preaching of a prophet
to come, yet they never heard that message from Moses. They
simply heard the commandments of the law, which they were zealous
to keep. They simply saw the outward rituals
of the sacrifices, which they were very careful to follow.
They simply saw the glory of the outward priesthood and the
temple, which they would defend with their lives. But they never
saw Him of whom Moses spake. As with them in their generation,
so too with many today in our generation. What is the central
message of this account regarding Stephen? What is the central
message of the whole book of Acts? What is the message of
the Scriptures? It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the grace of God which
brings salvation. It is the contrast between grace
and law. Between that true religion of
God, which is of God, promised by God, wrought by God, brought
to pass by God, all of God, all of grace, that true and everlasting
salvation. contrasted with the outward form
of religion, either in the physical or in the words or in the head,
which never penetrates the heart within. This generation fought
that they served God. They kept the law, they had the
scriptures, they had the priesthood, they were very zealous for what
they fought were the things of God and yet they never saw in
those things what those things pointed to. They never saw that
the sacrifices were appointed to the one sacrifice for sins
forever. They never saw what the Passover
pointed to, the Lamb of God. They never saw who the prophet
was of whom Moses spake, Jesus Christ the Son of God. They never
saw what the temple was a figure of, the body of Christ and the
house of God. They never heard. They never
saw. They heard with the outward ear.
They were zealous in their religion. They did everything carefully. As Saul, a Pharisee of the Pharisees,
circumcised the eighth day. of the tribe of Benjamin as touching
the things concerning the law without blame. Oh they kept all
the rituals, all the feasts, all the sacrifices. Their priesthood
was very careful to dress exactly as Moses prescribed and to do
the things on the right dates at the right times in the right
manner. nobody knew the scriptures as
well as they did they studied they understood but they saw
nothing and when the reality of what
those things pointed to came before them when the prophet
of whom Moses spake, when the sacrifice which those sacrifices
was a picture of stood before them, when Christ came into their
midst, when Christ came unto his own, this people, they rejected
him. And when Stephen came preaching
Christ, they rejected him too. Generation after generation,
Prophet after prophet was sent unto this people by God. And
each one that came, they raged against. And they turned from. And they cast them out. And they
murdered them. They trampled their message underfoot. Far from being those who truly
defended Moses, they hated those who came in the spirit of Moses.
Far from being those who truly defended the things of God, they
hated all those who were sent of God, who speak of God and
loved God. Far from being those who defended
the temple, they could never see past the physical temple
in Jerusalem to that of which the temple was a figure. Far
from being those who served God, they were those who hated God.
And there are many today in the same shoes. Who say we believe
the prophets of old. We are zealous for the things
of God. We've got the scriptures. We
follow the reformers. We know the way. who reject any
who come preaching the grace of God which brings salvation. If they had been alive at the
time of the Reformers, this generation would have cast out the Reformers. But the Reformers are dead and
buried as Moses was dead and buried. And like this generation
that came pretending to be Moses' friend and hating all those who
came with the same message that Moses had, they too pretend to
be the Reformers' friend and any who come preaching the grace
of God and justification by faith they cast out. mixing up their
words to bring the law back upon their heroes. They accused Stephen of being
against Moses and their generation today accuses any true preacher
of grace as being against Moses, against God and against the law. because they think that these
things need to be kept. When the rituals that Moses brought
in by God's command, when the outward form of the law when
the commandment of the law was sent for a reason to point us
unto Christ alone, and having sent us to Christ, to leave us
with Christ, not have us return back to the law again, as though
Christ is insufficient. They accuse him of being against
the law, of being against Moses, of being against God. Why? What did Stephen preach? What
did the apostles preach? What did the disciples preach
that brought that accusation? He preached the gospel. Showing
that God dwells not in buildings made of hands. Not in the temple
in Jerusalem. But he dwells in the hearts of
his people. Stephen preached the words of Christ who said,
destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in three days,
speaking of his body. The temple in Jerusalem was but
a picture of the house of God, built and founded upon Christ
as the chief cornerstone. The people of God are described
in the epistles in Ephesians, as lively stones built up upon
the foundations of the prophets and the apostles. Jesus Christ
himself, the chief cornerstone. This is the temple. And when
they took Christ and slew him, they destroyed the temple of
his body. But he raised it up again in
three days. They destroyed him and his people died with him.
but he and his people rose up again from the grave on the third
day. This is the temple of God. They
accused Stephen of speaking against the temple. Stephen preached
what the temple is. Stephen preached that the law
was given to show us our sin. and our need to be delivered
of our sin. The commandments of the law,
all the commandments, were given to show us that we're full of
sin and that we cannot keep it. As he said, unto these his accusers,
ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always
resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one of whom ye have
been now the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it they never kept
the law their fathers never kept the law none can keep the law
except the just one And the law was given to show unto man that
he cannot keep the law, to show unto you and I that we cannot
keep it. O you today who are zealous for
the law, zealous for sanctification by the law, zealous for justification
by the law, whatever it be, whatever you claim, you who are zealous
for the law, do you not hear the law? You cannot keep it,
it condemns you. The law is only fulfilled in
Christ, through his blood, which was shed in the place of sinners. Stephen preached what the law's
sending forth was for. He preached why God sent it,
and he preached its effects. And he preached how the sacrifices
instructed in the law, given unto Moses, were given to show
that we needed to offer up a sacrifice for our constant breaking of
that law. and how those sacrifices were
a picture of the one sacrifice which must be offered because
the blood of bulls and of living things could not atone for sin
but the blood of the Son of God could. One who is both divine
and man, the Son of God, the Son of Man, God come in the flesh,
His blood, His sacrifice could deliver us. Because He came as
a perfect man, a sinless man, who could bear the sins of others
and take them away. And in so doing, He delivered
a guilty people from the condemnation of the law. Stephen preached
law as pointing to the gospel. He preached the fulfilment of
the law, the promise of the law, the reason for the law, the purpose
of the law. He preached Moses as Moses pointed
unto Christ. But when grace comes, when faith
has come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster, as Paul points
out in Galatians. And as Paul points out also,
I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto
God. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the law. No, by the faith
of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do
not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. For righteousness does
not come by the law, it comes with the death of Christ, it
comes with the faith of Christ through his death. He offered
up himself, believing and knowing that God through his death would
sanctify all of his people through him. He would justify them, imputing
the righteousness of God unto them through His shed blood.
And He would cleanse them and sanctify them in that blood and
make them perfect before Him. And such was the faith of Christ
rewarded for all that God promised to do in laying the sins of His
people upon Him. As He suffered and died in their
stead, came about, they died with Him. Their sins were washed
away and blotted out, and they were buried with Him, and they
rose again with Him, the other side of death and the other side
of the reach of the law. For the law had one thing to
say unto a guilty people, thou must die. and its sentence was
brought down upon their saviour, upon the sacrifice, once and
for all. And having brought down the sentence,
the law was answered. The law has no more to say. Having
risen again the other side of death, the other side of the
grave, the law does not reach unto these people. In its eyes
they are dead, they are buried. The penalty has been paid in
full, it has no more demand. So Stephen preached, we're no
longer under the law, we've died, we've gone through the rivers
of death, we're the other side of the grave, we're alive and
risen in Christ, we're under grace. And Moses' law was sent
to teach us that, to show us that. Moses came to preach of
the prophet who should come, who should bring this salvation.
But when these Jews heard that message, it took the rug from
under their feet. It said unto them that the rituals
that they defended would be taken away. That the commandments that
they were so zealous to keep could not save. That salvation
was not in their ritual keeping. Salvation was not in the outward
form. Salvation was not in the outward
priesthood. Salvation was but in the things
that these things pictured. But not in the things themselves
and they hated this. Because they had these things
and they didn't have the reality of which they pictured. So they
hated them who spake of Jesus Christ and His grace. and so
many today have the outward. You may have the scriptures,
you may have your meetings, you may have your bible reading and
your prayer and your form, you may have your priesthood as it
were in your ministry. and your Bible college, oh you've
got all the outward form and you think that by your zealousness
and zeal in keeping these things and keeping the meetings going
and studying these things that you are saved by them. But they're
outward. Unless you understand what that
message in the scriptures points to, it's just words in your head.
Unless you have the reality of which Stephen spoke. You have
no more than these Jews had. They had everything outward but
nothing within their hearts. They'd heard with the outward
ear but never perceived. They'd never seen in the words
who these words spake of. They'd never seen Christ. And
when they saw him, They rejected him, like their fathers had rejected
Moses. Moses came unto them and they
said, we will not have you to be ruler over us. And they cast
him out. Christ came unto them and they
said, away with this man, crucify him. Stephen came unto them with
the same message of Moses, the same message of Christ, the same
gospel, the same gospel that Moses preached, the same gospel
that Christ preached, the same gospel that the apostles preached.
It's one and the same. It's not against Moses, it's
the fulfillment of what Moses preached. The same message. And they put him to death. They
accused him of being against Moses, against God, against the
law, and against the holy place of the temple. And having been
accused, Stephen stands up and preaches this wondrous message
in Acts chapter 7, where he goes through the account of history
from Abraham, through the patriarchs, through Jacob and Israel and
Joseph in Egypt, through Moses and his deliverance of that people,
through David and Solomon unto Christ. He preaches the gospel. He preaches it from all the scriptures. He shows Christ in these things. He preaches from Moses. He shows
how Moses preached of Christ, how the law points to Christ.
He shows them how they received the law by the disposition of
angels, but how this people and their forefathers never kept
it. He shows unto the people how
they and their forefathers always persecuted those prophets that
Christ sent with His message. and how they murdered the just
one, Jesus Christ himself. Yes, Stephen boldly stood up
before his accusers, who claimed to be so religious, so zealous
for the law, and yet they ultimately despised that law because they
knew not its meaning, they knew not its understanding, they saw
not in the law how the gospel was in it. They claimed to see,
they claimed to know, but they didn't. Because they kept holding
on to the form and the outward obedience when the reality was
that that law shuts us up unto Christ and his salvation. And
when we come to Christ, we're no longer, no longer under that
schoolmaster. This isn't a destruction of the
law. It's not an undermining of it.
It's not a destruction of the temple. It's a fulfilment of
it. The law's fulfilment is found
in Christ and his sacrifice. It's found in His blood. It's
found in the redemption that that blood has brought in. The
ransom of sinners, the justification, the imputing of the righteousness
of God unto His people through the faith of Jesus Christ. That's
the fulfilment of the law, the bringing in of the righteousness
of God through the penalty of the law exacted upon Christ as
He bore the sins of His people. The law said that the soul that
sinneth must die and when that judgment came down upon Christ
as he stood vicariously in the place of sinners bearing their
sins though he was never a sinner though he never sinned he bore
their sins and the judgment of God against those sins came down
upon him and he died. and his blood was shed and in
shedding his blood he washed his people clean and made them
to be the righteousness of God in him and so the law was fulfilled
and so the law's work was done when the law's work has been
accomplished it's finished with it's not destroyed it's fulfilled
we've not come to destroy the law but to fulfill says Paul
in Romans. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. This is what it was sent for,
that a man might be justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all, them that believe, for there
is no difference, for all have sinned. and come short of the
glory of God. These things are not against
the law, they are the fulfilment and the establishment of the
law. Grace isn't against the law, it's the fulfilment of it.
But when the law's work is done, it's done. We don't go back to
it, we walk in Christ, by grace, washed in the blood. And so Stephen
showed in his reply. So he showed. But he also showed
that this people never truly heard Moses, they rejected him. They never heard the prophets
who said the same things, they murdered them. They never heard
Christ who came as the fulfilment of that law, they betrayed him
and put him to death and crucified him. And their reaction to Stephen,
when he says these things, is to stone him. They stoned Stephen. He says what he says. And when
they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they
gnashed on him with their teeth. He declared the truth to them. He went to the Scriptures, their
Scriptures, and showed them, from the history in those Scriptures,
from the message of those Scriptures, that they pretended to believe
just what they said and what they were. And just how they
found their fulfilment in Christ. And they hated him for it. They gnashed on him with their
teeth. But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly
into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on
the right hand of God. They hated him for it. They slew
him. Now what's your response to the
Gospel? What's your response to the grace
of God? What's your response to those
who come preaching that we're not under law, we're under grace?
Do you say they're heretics? Do you say that they're against
Moses? Do you say that they're against
the law? Do you say that they're against
God? Do you say that they're against
this holy place, the church? Oh, how often I hear that claim,
you preach grace, you preach salvation, you preach justification
by faith, you preach that we are delivered from the law, no
longer under the law that the law is not our rule of life but
faith in Christ is but Christ is our rule but a new life in
him is our rule you preach these things and the accusation comes
up that you're against the law that you're against Moses that
you're against God and that you're against the church the very same
accusation made against Stephen When you read in the Acts of
the people's opposition to the apostles, when you read of this
account of Stephen, what is it that caused them to stone him?
What was the central reason that they stoned Stephen? It was because
he preached grace that we are delivered from the law through
the blood of Jesus Christ. That Moses' law that the message
of Moses found its fulfilment in Christ. He preached what Moses
really meant. He preached what the law really
meant. He didn't undermine it, he didn't
attack it, he showed that these things found their fulfilment
in Christ. Yet they hated him for it, because
it brought a change in what they clinged on to, because they only
had the outward form. And so today if you preach these
things there's an opposition, a hatred, you're against the
law, you're against Moses, you're against God and you're against
his church. If you don't hold that Moses
and the law is our rule of life, if you don't hold that sanctification
is through the law, oh you're against it. If you preach grace,
through and through that grace begins with God is all of God
that salvation is of grace from start to finish throughout that
we are perfected by grace that we walk in grace that we walk
by faith that we walk looking under Christ in his gospel that
he is our rule of life faith is our rule of life then you
are against the law and they will slay you, they will condemn
you, they will reject you, like they rejected Moses, like they
rejected Stephen, like they rejected Christ himself. They stoned Stephen. Now what does your heart do?
What is your heart saying? Are you full of hatred for Stephen
and his message? Are you full of hatred for Christ
and his message? And despite your pretense, are
you ultimately full of hatred for Moses and his message? Are
you full of hatred for me and my message? Does this gospel
offend you? They stoned Stephen. Who would
you stone if you could? Oh, you might never do it physically,
but what is your heart saying? Who would you silence? Whose
mouth would you stop? Who would you gnash at with your
teeth if no one was watching? They stoned Stephen. But what
was the effect of Stephen stoning? What was the effect? Did they
silence Stephen? Did they silence his gospel? Did this bring this outrage to
an end? Did this bring this trouble in
Israel to an end? Was this the end of the apostles,
the disciples? Was this the end of Jesus Christ
and his gospel? What was the effect of their
stoning Stephen? They put one man to death. But
what did it do unto him? He being full of the Holy Ghost
looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God. And Jesus standing on the right
hand of God and said, Behold I see the heavens opened. And
the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. They stoned
him and he saw the glory of God at that very moment. Far from
destroying him, he entered into glory. Far from being to his
harm, this was the most wonderful moment of Stephen's life. His
mortal body was crushed to bits and he rose up in his spirit
and went to be with Christ his Saviour. Far from being a moment
of anguish, as his body crumbled as the stones hit him, he rose
up in faith and saw his Lord and Saviour glorified on the
right hand of God. Far from accomplishing the aim
of this wicked people who opposed him, it furthered the aim of
the gospel. It saved Stephen, it brought
glory. And it brought glory in this
message and this account that the gospel should be furthered
and go forth. Stephen saw the glory of Christ
at this worst of moments and as a consequence, Somebody stood
by and heard and saw what was done. Someone whom God would
use for the fervent of the gospel. in such a way that it went from
the Jews, to the Gentiles, to the four corners of this earth,
to you and me today, to break down every barrier, every wall,
every opposing voice, every opposing word of man, to break down all
obstacles that every single person for whom Christ died should hear
the gospel in power and be saved. Far from quenching the gospel,
this Aved broke down the floodgates for it to go forth, because stood
by was a young man whose name was Saul. They cast him out of
the city and stoned him. And witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they
stoned Stephen, who called upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit. Saul. A young priest, a Pharisee
of the Pharisees, the leader of these people, a persecutor
of the church, a hater of Jesus Christ, stood and had them stone
Stephen. But as they did, God had his
hand on Saul, God forgave Saul, and God purposed to deliver Saul
and meet with Saul. Christ himself would later speak
to Saul, and Saul, whose name was changed to Paul, was sent
forth with the Gospel. This event did not end the Gospel,
it did not end Stephen, it did not quench this grace of God,
but it furthered it. Saul, a man who persecuted the
church, who stood by and consented to the death of Stephen, would
later stand before Christ who said, Saul, Saul, why persecutes
thou me? And God had mercy upon Saul. God opened his voice and God
showed him in the words of Moses and in the law and the prophets
what these things were. Saul came to see what Stephen
saw and Saul himself, Paul, would come to see the glory that Stephen
saw. And why did this come about?
Because as Stephen was stoned, he knelt down and cried with
a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, even as
they slew him. Just as when Christ was slain,
Christ said, forgive them for they know not what they do. Stephen,
as his opponents slay him, says, lay not this sin to their charge. Forgive them. They crucified
Christ. They stoned Stephen. But Christ
would have from amongst his persecutors, from amongst those who hated
him, a great company be saved. And God knew through Stephen
that Saul would be saved, and would preach the Gospel, and
that many who hated him, hated Stephen, hated this message,
would come to hear and be saved. And you too, you too might reject
this Gospel of Grace, you might contend against it, you might
in your hearts stone those who come with it, But if God looks
upon you favourably, He'll say of you, lay not this sin to their
charge. Because maybe you're a soul,
maybe you're a young man, full of zeal, full of knowledge, full
of understanding as you think, but blind to the truth. But maybe
God will take your blindness and touch your eyes and open
them and show you the glory of Christ. show you the glory of
his salvation, show you his faith, show you his death, show you
his blood, show you how he fulfilled all that Moses commanded, show
you that there is one saviour of sinners, the man Christ Jesus. This prayer was heard. It was
heard. Stephen's prayer was heard in
that God saved Saul, who oversaw this very sin, this murder of
Stephen. He saved him. He saved the chief of sinners,
as Paul describes himself. For Paul knew what he'd done.
Paul knew that he consented to the death of Stephen. Paul knew
that he put many to death who went this way. Paul knew how
he persecuted the church. Paul knew how he hated the name
of Jesus Christ. He blasphemed against the name
of Jesus Christ. Paul knew what he did, thinking
he served God, thinking he was zealous in the things of God,
he hated the name of Christ, and he hated all those who followed
Christ, and he put them to death. And you may hate Christ, you
in your heart may hate his gospel, because it undermines you, it
offends you, it cuts you down, you may reject. But if Christ
looks upon you as Stephen looked upon Saul, If Christ looks upon
you as he did those who put him to death upon the cross and says
forgive him, he knows not what he does. Forgive her, she knows
not what she thinks. If Christ looks upon you like
that, if Christ prays for you, if Christ prays for your soul
as Stephen prayed for the souls of these, then you will come
to hear this gospel and far from it cutting you to the heart to
cause you to persecute it will cut you to the heart and break
you and melt you and the light will shine into the darkness
of your heart and you will see and you will hear the voice of
Jesus Christ calling out to your soul why persecutest thou me
and you may stone You may stone, but as you throw those stones
at Stephen, at Christ, at the messengers of the gospel, you
will come to see through his death, through their death, through
the death of Christ, through the grace of God, through the
prayer of God on your behalf. that salvation is rich and free
that salvation is not wrought because what you did what your
works were what you did in this was to cast a stone but what
God did was to forgive you freely by his grace You cast the stone. You said, away with this man.
You said, you will not be a ruler over me. You said, crucify him. You spake words of hate. You cast the stone. You murdered. You trampled underfoot. But he
said, forgive him. He knows not what he does. He
said, lay not this sin to your charge. He said, I love him. I have laid down my life for
him and he will follow me. He said, follow me. He was full of grace when your
works were full of sin. Have you heard his voice? Have
you seen him who suffered for sinners such as you and such
as I? They stoned Stephen and when
he had said this he fell asleep. Amen.