And we certainly need to be free,
free from our sin. Now, today I want to try to finish
up here Acts chapter 6. Acts chapter 6, and I thought
about several different titles, but what I'm going to use is
found in verse 8. Acts chapter 6, verse 8, and
Stephen, full of faith. and power. Did great wonders
and miracles among the people. Full of faith and power. Full of faith and power. I desire
that for you. I desire that for me. Full of faith. Saving faith is
full of Christ. What is this power that we need
to be full or filled with? I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It is a power of God unto salvation. He is our strength,
our wisdom, and He is our salvation. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ obviously
did a great work of grace in this sinner named Stephen. Stephen. The Lord Jesus Christ
not only singled him out in that eternal covenant of grace, how
long did the Lord know Stephen by name? Well, from eternity. From eternity. God chose him
in that eternal covenant of grace, and because of that electing
choice of Stephen, In that covenant of grace, God granted this man
faith and repentance. I know that so. As many as were
ordained to eternal life believed the gospel. Stephen was one who
heard the gospel and was granted faith and repentance to believe
the gospel. But he was also chosen to be
a faithful servant of the church. They made him a deacon. When
they chose those seven men that were of honest report and full
of the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, one of those seven men, his name
was Stephen. He seemed to be maybe the chief
among these seven men. He was chosen to be a faithful
servant of the church. He was one of those seven deacons. And then the Lord also gave him
much wisdom, liberty, and power to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he did so in the synagogues that are mentioned
here in Jerusalem. Now, one of the old writers that
I read after, John Gill, who wrote back in the 1700s, he always
goes back and studies those old Jewish historians. Josephus and
others, but he made mention that in Jerusalem at that time there
were 400 maybe more, but at least 400
Jewish synagogues to accommodate these people. What is a synagogue?
It's an assembly of the Jews. But Stephen preached the gospel
to these most Jewish religious lost people, and he did so to
the Pharisees, but he also preached the gospel to Saul of Tarsus.
Saul of Tarsus was of that synagogue from Cilicia. Cilicia, Saul of
Tarsus, was from that region. Stephen actually preached the
first gospel sermon that Saul of Tarsus, who was later the
Apostle Paul, because over here in the last part of Acts chapter
7, when Stephen was stoned to death for preaching the gospel, They laid down their clothes
at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. Saul of Tarsus heard
the gospel from this man, Stephen, who was a faithful gospel preacher. Now, back up in verse 4. We will give ourselves, the apostle
said, we'll choose out seven men to take care of the widows
who were neglected, and we'll give ourselves continually to
praying and continually to the preaching of the word of the
Lord. And because of that, verse 7, the word of God increased
and multiplied. The preaching of the gospel and
the spread throughout the region and in the city of Jerusalem
and through the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified being preached.
The Lord called out his elect that were in that city, called
them out of darkness into his marvelous light. We've seen at
least 10,000 people that the Lord had called out. They were
all religious and all lost. God sent him a gospel preacher.
They preached the Lord Jesus Christ and lifted Him up, and
the Lord called out a multitude and taught them the gospel. You
know, the Lord's still doing that today. He's still sending
men to lift up Christ, to preach Christ, and the Lord is still
calling out sinners. unto repentance. But notice the last part of verse
7 as well. I pointed this out in the close
of the message last week, and I think this is significant that
the Lord makes mention of this. A great company of priests were
obedient to the faith. These priests before were going
about to seek salvation by the deeds of the law. Now they're
seeking salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ who obeyed the law
of God for them. Oh, the law has to be honored.
The Lord Jesus Christ did that for us. They were obedient to
THE faith. There's just one faith. There's
one Lord, one faith, one gospel. They were obedient, and that's
what saving faith is. Saving faith is obedient to the
will of the Lord. What is the will of the Lord?
To bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the will of God. As many
as God had given to him, that he will raise him up at the last
day, and all those who have heard and seen of him, this is the
will of God, that they would believe the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God is still granting and giving
faith today to God's people. The Lord has not changed His
method, His means, to grant faith and to give repentance, to call
out His sheep. We never preach the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ in vain. The Lord will always bless the
preaching of the Word to His people. Faith comes by hearing,
hearing the Word, and it comes by the command of God. by the
Word of God. God commands us to hear Him.
He commands the light to shine in our hearts that we might see
the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
now verse 7 in our text, Acts 6 verse 7, and Stephen was full
of faith. This man was full of Christ,
full of the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
did great wonders and he did miracles among them. You see, saving faith is always
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the most high God, who
has all power in heaven and in earth. Stephen could say with
Paul, I am what I am by the grace of God. Stephen, where'd you
get that faith? God gave it to me. Stephen, where'd
you get such power? God gave it to me. He could say
with Paul, I am what I am by the grace of God. Again, he could
say with Paul, as Paul says to young Timothy, it's God who saved
us. It's God who called us with a holy calling, not according
to our work, but according to God's own purpose and grace given
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Stephen is also
a said of him, that he was full, verse 3, he was an honest man,
made so by the grace of God, but he was also full of the Holy
Spirit, full of wisdom. He had this wisdom, God-given,
to make him to know and to understand and believe the gospel. Notice
this too, what it says here about Stephen, in the last part of
verse 8, that he did great wonders and that he did great miracles. He did great wonders and miracles
among the people only by the wonderful power of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is still doing great wonders
and miracles among his people again in this day, because the
Lord does not change. Jesus Christ our Lord is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. If any person truly believes
the gospel of Christ, that is a great wonder, and it is a miracle
of His power, because we only believe the gospel according
to the working of His mighty power. Notice verse 9 of Acts
chapter 6, Stephen, as the servant of the Lord, went preaching the
gospel. And there arose certain of the
synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines,
the Cyrenians, the Alexandrians, them of Cilicia and of Asia,
disputing with Stephen. Now, why would they dispute with
him? Because they did not believe what he preached. But Stephen,
being a bold preacher of the gospel, went into the camp of
the enemy, into the synagogue of the Jews, the very people
who crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the place
where the Lord sent him to preach the gospel. Now, I admire his
boldness, his courage, don't you? The Apostle Paul did the
same thing. When he went to these different
cities, he always found out where the Jews met together, and he
went right into the camp of the enemy, those who hated the gospel,
hated God, and he preached to them the Lord Jesus Christ high
and lifted up as God our Savior. Now, they didn't like what they
heard. But it says in verse 10, they
were not able to resist the wisdom by which he spake. Now, this particular synagogue is
mentioned here of those from Cilicia. I know that Saul of
Tarsus was part of that group. If you turn to Saul of Tarsus,
the Apostle Paul, find Acts 22, Acts chapter 22. This is a place
where Saul of Tarsus attended, being of that body of people. In Acts 22 verse 3, I am barely
a man which am born a Jew in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia. You see that? and was brought
up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according
to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous
toward God, as you are all this day. And I persecuted this way
unto death, binding and delivering into prison both men and women."
And he did that to Stephen. Where it says there, they disputed
with Stephen, Probably the chief disputer in that synagogue of
Cilicia was none other than Saul of Tarsus. God made that man a preacher
and apostle of the gospel. But how did it all start? God
sent Saul of Tarsus a preacher named Stephen. That's where he
heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God doesn't
change his method. Or means, he's still sending
people to preach the gospel. These people were ready to defend
Judaism and the law, the temple, and the Jewish tradition at all
costs, and they quickly disputed with Stephen. I love what it
says in verse 10, they were not able to resist his wisdom. And the spirit by which he spake.
God so blessed Stephen to preach the gospel with such wisdom of
the Word, and knowledge of the Scripture, and the power of the
Holy Spirit, these most Jewish Jews could not stand in opposition
to what he said, nor could they refute what he said about the
Christ of God. And the reason why they could
not, remember what we read in Luke 21, for I'll give you a
mouth, and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able
to gainsay nor resist." They could not find an argument in
their Jewish theology to refute what he said about the Lord Jesus
Christ. So what did they do? They disputed
with him But they could not refute what he said. So here's their
next action. Then, verse 11, they suborned
men. Now that's not a word that I
naturally or normally use. Suborned men. So, I looked it
up. It means basically that they
hired some men. They hired out some men. Which
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 they came upon him and caught him or arrested him
and brought him before this council once again. Because these religious
rebels against God could not disprove the words of faithful
Stephen, they hired these false witnesses to bring charges against
him to silence him. Isn't this exactly what the Pharisees
did to the Lord Jesus Christ? Turn over here to Matthew 26.
Matthew 26, 59. Now, when the chief priests and
the elders and all the council sought false witness against
the Lord Jesus to put Him to death, They found none, yet though
many false witnesses came, yet they found none. At last, two
false witnesses said, this fellow said, I'm able to destroy the
temple of God and to build it again in three days. So, the same method they used
to hire up men to charge Stephen against speaking blasphemy against
God. Verse 12, they stirred up the
people, the elders of Israel, and came upon them, and caught
him, and brought him to the council. Now what were they going to do?
They arrested him, delivered him to this council, Sanhedrin,
Jewish Sanhedrin, to be accused, to be examined, and condemned
to death. And that's exactly what they
did. They picked up stones. When Stephen got through preaching
to them, to this council, when they said, Are these things so?
And Stephen preached to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, what did they do? Turn over to Acts chapter 7.
Acts chapter 7. And when they heard these sayings,
verse 54, they were cut to the heart, they gnashed upon him
with their teeth, but he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked
up steadfastly into heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing
on the right hand of God, still declaring the deity of Christ,
and said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing
on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud
voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
and cast him out of the city, 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, saying, now notice, calling upon God, saying, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit. He kneeled down, cried with a
loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, ready to
forgive. And when he said this, he fell
asleep. He preached that one message
to this council, who determined, see how vicious these men were?
They gnashed on him like a pack of wild dogs. And when that wasn't
good enough, they picked up stones, according to Jewish law, and
dashed out his brains. They set up false witnesses against
him and said, this man ceases not to blaspheme words against
his holy place and the law. We've heard him say that this
Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and change the custom
which Moses delivered unto us. This man, I love this statement
where it says in the middle part of verse 13, this man ceaseth
not to speak. They couldn't silence him. What
did he speak? He spoke of Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He does not cease to preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, being determined to do so. They
considered what Stephen preached to be evil. They accused him
of speaking against Moses, as it says, notice that in verse
11, speaking evil words against Moses and against God, and then
in verse 13, against the holy place, and against the
law of God." Now there's the charge. We've heard Stephen say
that this man named Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place
and change our custom. We know what Stephen actually
did preach, don't we? The gospel of Christ. We have
that in Romans all through the book of Romans, tells us about
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, how He freely justifies
by His grace. And we have the recorded sermon
of Stephen in Acts chapter 7. They hated what he preached because
they hated the God he preached. He became their enemy because
he told them the truth. Now, let me give you this and
we'll be finished. Here's what Stephen preached
to them and what all the apostles and prophets preached. Stephen
preached to them that salvation is of the Lord. All of God's
prophets, past, present, and future, all declare that salvation
is of the Lord. Now, let's look at those four
things. That they accused him of speaking against Moses. They
accused him of speaking against the law. that accused him of
speaking evil about the holy place, that accused him of speaking
evil about the very law of God. What did Stephen actually say
about Moses? Here's what he said. Moses wrote
about the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to turn and read this
with me. Find John chapter 5. What did Moses write about? They accused him of speaking
against Moses. Know what he said, that Moses
spoke about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what they hated. To him,
give all the prophets witness. John chapter 5. Search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. There they which
testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you. that you have not the love of
God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not.
If another will come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another, and seeketh not the honor that cometh from
God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There
is one that accuseth you, even Moses, whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for Moses wrote about me." So when they
accused him of speaking against Moses, what did Stephen say that
Moses said? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, in another place, don't
turn, let me just read this to you, you're familiar with this.
Over in Luke 24, you remember our Lord said to those men on
the road to Emmaus, And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures a thing concerning
himself." So, what did Stephen say about Moses? They said, he's
speaking against Moses. You know why they said that?
Because he pointed them to the prophets Moses said would come,
the Lord Jesus Christ. They hated that and they hated
him because they hated God. Our Lord said this, while I was
yet with you, all things must be fulfilled which are written
in the law of Moses and in the prophets concerning and in the
psalm concerning me. So what did Stephen preach? Christ.
He said Moses wrote about Christ. That's what they hated. That's
what they said was evil. Secondly, Stephen preached to
them that the Lord Jesus Christ is God Almighty manifest in the
flesh. They said, he not only spoke
against Moses, but he spoke against God. Now, what did Stephen preach
about God? He said, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he is God. Did you see that in the text?
Here's where I'm going with that. Look at verse 14. We've heard
him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and
shall change the custom which Moses delivered unto us. Who
could destroy that place? The man alone from Nazareth could
not destroy that place, but the man from Nazareth who was God
Almighty manifest in the flesh. He is able to save to the uttermost
and he's able to condemn to the uttermost as well. So Stephen
preached unto these people the absolute sovereignty of God in
salvation as it's revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
know what? They hated the God that he preached. Jesus Christ is God. manifest
in the flesh. As the old timers used to say,
he remained what he was, eternal holy God, and became what he
was not, flesh, and dwelt among us. So here's the third thing
that Stephen, the faithful servant of the Lord, ceased not to preach.
Christ has fulfilled all things that Moses wrote about. that
the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come and destroy this place.
And that's true of this place, too. He's going to come again
and destroy this place, melt it with a fervent heat, and he's
going to create a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. And he's going to inhabit that
new creation with a people populated, conformed, and predestinated
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. The third thing that
Stephen preached, that they hated, that cost him his life, verse
13, this man, they said, he does not cease to speak evil words
against the holy place. the holy place. He said that
that holy place and the holy of holies and all that temple
and all that that God Almighty is going to come and destroy
this place. He preached to them that the
holy place, the temple, and all that went on in the temple in
the holy of holies, the work of the priest, The blood atonement
on the mercy seat, all were just a picture and type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who brought in everlasting
salvation for us, for his sheep, with his own blood. The work
of the priest, no longer necessary. The Lord Jesus Christ as a great
high priest came in and obtained eternal redemption for us with
His own blood. The law honored the holy place. God tore it down. Now, think
about this. They were so insistent upon the
holy place and that temple, and they thought everything was so
special. and so certain, and so sure,
and the Lord said, I'm going to destroy your hope. It's just
a false refuge of life. God said, I'm going to destroy
it. May He do that in our heart. Destroy every false hope we have,
and point us to the Lord Jesus Christ alone, who obtained salvation
for us. Yeah, Stephen said this holy
place is not so holy. At one time it stood as a symbol
of the holy character of God. It stood one time, especially
in the tabernacle in the wilderness. a holy character of God, the
Holy Spirit of God, His Shekinah glory filled that place, but
all that was tight, pitch, and shadow, and all was fulfilled
by the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't look to an earthly priest
anymore. We look to the great high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the last thing that he says
here, they accused him of speaking against the law of God. So what did Stephen preach to
them? He preached to them that the
law of God was honored by the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said
that in Matthew 5. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law and the prophets. I came to fulfill it. The Lord
God, Jehovah, is well pleased for His righteousness sake. He
will magnify the law and honor it. Stephen preached to them
that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. Stephen preached to them that
believers are no longer going about and seeking to be justified
by the deeds of the law, that believers are looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation. He even preached to
them the same thing Paul said, Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and don't be entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. The Apostle writes in Romans
6, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under
the law, but under grace. Thank God we're not under that
law. The law of God says one thing
to you, The law of God says one thing to me. You know what it
says? Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. How can this guilty sinner satisfy
that holy law? Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. In Him crucified. Now, I'm going
to quit with this. Look at verse 15. And all that
sat in this council. Now these men were Pharisees,
Sadducees, and scribes, these men who were familiar with the
law of God, but missed the message. They were familiar with Old Testament
prophets, but didn't have a clue what Moses wrote about. Looking
steadfastly on Stephen, saw his face as it had been the face
of an angel. Now, what does that look like? I don't have a clue. I don't
have a clue, but let me give you this. Here's what I think
it means. Stephen was not ashamed of the
gospel. As he preached, his face lit
up like as it were the face of an angel with holy joy. Remember when Moses went up on
the mountain to receive the law of God and he came back down
and he had to put a veil over his face because his face was
lit up. like the face of an angel. It
says in Exodus 34, the children of Israel saw his face, and the
skin of Moses' face shone like Stephen here. Now, here's what
I see in that. Stephen's face was not red with
anger. You ever see anybody get so mad
their face just turns red? Here these men were disputing
with Stephen, arguing with Stephen, and he didn't preach the gospel
with anger. He preached with humility. His
face wasn't red with rage and anger. Nor was his face pale
and white with fright. You've heard that old saying,
that man was so scared, his face was pale as a white sheep. His
face wasn't red, it wasn't pale. His face was calm, full of joy,
and confidence in His message, and it is God rejoicing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I see there. We are the true Israel of God,
which worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, I love what is said
in verse 1 of the next chapter. And they said, then said the
high priest, Are these things so? You can ask yourself that question.
Are these things so? Yep, they are so. These things are true. One example, Stephen, is unto
us a faithful witness to the Lord who preached the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who served the need of those widows,
serving the Lord with gladness in his heart as unto the Lord. And you know what? He died in
faith. May God grant us saving faith,
and may God cause us to die in the Lord. And I love what it
says here when Stephen kneeled down and cried with a loud voice,
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. He's asking even in his
death, Lord, have mercy upon these sinners. They need salvation. Boy, I want that kind of compassion,
don't you? They were dashing out his brain.
They just gnashed on him like a dog, and yet he prays for them.
He preached to them. I want that kind of compassion. And when he said that, he fell
asleep. He went to glory. To be absent
from the body, is to be present with the Lord. These all died
in faith. The first martyr of the church,
the Lord Jesus, who died for our sin according
to Scripture, and then Stephen died preaching the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ.