known as the Acts of the Apostles,
but it could rightly be called the Acts of God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit acting and
calling and working, sending out the gospel of God, God's
purpose. Now in Acts chapter 7 and 8,
we ended last week with the last few verses of chapter 7, and
we saw the brutal murder of a faithful gospel servant, a gospel preacher
named Stephen. Stephen was called of God and
blessed of God to be a servant of God, sent to preach the gospel
of God. What a blessing God can give
to any people to call a man, to gift that man, to give him
a message, and to send him out to be a blessing. to others by
preaching the gospel. And as he dies and seals his
testimony with his blood, dying a martyr for the gospel, in his
dying breath he makes two amazing statements. Two amazing statements. The first one is found in verse
59. Lord Jesus Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Those who die in faith die well. We read in the Revelation chapter
14, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. To die in the
Lord is a blessing. A blessing. Lord Jesus, receive
me. Upon what ground, Stephen? Upon
the ground of your preaching? Upon the merit of your doing?
Upon the merit of your servant? Upon what ground, Stephen, would
God receive him and receive his spirit? To be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. For me to live is Christ
and to die is gain. But upon what merit? Upon what
ground? Well, none other than the merit
and ground and the very righteousness given of God in Christ. Lord,
receive me upon the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ." Isn't
that our plea? Isn't that our testimony before
God? Lord, receive me, accept me,
not upon my doing, my effort, but on the doing of another,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's an amazing statement. That's my testimony. I pray that
it is yours. And then he makes this other
statement here in verse 60. He says, Lord, when he kneeled
down and he cried with a loud voice in his dying breath, he
prays for those who stone him. That's grace, is it not? He died
with a gracious spirit. Lay not this sin to their account. Can you remember another who
was dying who prayed that? The Lord Jesus on Calvary Street
said, Lord, lay not this sin to their account. He died with a gracious spirit
and a forgiving spirit. I believe that's the spirit of
a believer. To die looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. To be
received upon the ground of His merit and to pray for those who
would misuse us, pray for your enemies. Those who would despitefully
use you, pray for them. Don't despise them. Pray for
them. Pray for them. And then we see
this first time in verse 58. We see this young man named Saul. This young man named Saul. Now
Saul was a, if you read the record of his own testimony, He was
very zealous of the traditions of his father. We read that in
Galatians chapter 1. He was a young, zealous Pharisee,
probably in his thirties at this time. He was very zealous of
tradition, going about to establish his own righteousness, and he
gave consent It delighted Saul of Tarsus to
hold and take care and watch over the clothes. He didn't want
to soil his hands by picking up rocks and throwing rocks,
but he held the clothes of those who did while he watched Stephen
die. Now, chapter 8, verse 1, and
Saul. Old Saul of Tarsus, he's called,
who we know later became one of God's greatest preachers. One of God's greatest preachers
of gospel. While Saul was consenting, and
that word actually means rejoicing and delighting in what was taking
place. Another one of these so-called
Christians, dead. And he said, that makes me happy.
You made my day. You can see something of the
wickedness, the wickedness of our own nature, our own nature,
consented unto his death. What a study in contrast between
Stephen and Saul. How would you account for the
difference? between Stephen's preaching and faith and love
for Christ and Saul's obvious hatred, murder. How do you account
for the difference? You know, most and some of the
theologians think that both Stephen and Saul were students in the
same school brought up under the feet of Gamaliel. They were
fellow students, knew one another. And yet one was a lover of Christ
and one was an abject hater. How do you account for the difference?
Well, one was wise and one was foolish. Well, I tell you, my
friend, the difference wasn't in them. The difference was the
grace of God. Paul later said, Saul of Tartus
later said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. It's grace. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling. No wonder he referred to himself
as the chief of sinners. He never despaired of God saving
another sinner if God saved this vile offender, this blasphemer,
this persecutor, this one who caused injury. Death! God can save me! He never despaired
of anybody's salvation. You see, the grace of God is
able to overcome all obstacles. If you have any, and you're His,
He'll overcome you too. He'll run you down and overcome
you. If you're His, He'll own you, He'll ride you, He'll break
you. He will now. He'll call you irresistibly
to Himself. You see, it's grace that makes
the difference. We're going to see in the days to come how God
radically changed this person, Saul of Tarsus, who rejoiced
in the death of Stephen, We're going to see in the days to come
how God radically changed this whole man's life. From death to life. From a hater
of God to a lover of God. A lover of God. One time all
those things that Saul of Tarsus thought recommended him to God.
Circumcised the eighth day. Tribe of Benjamin. Hebrew of
Hebrews. My daddy was a Hebrew. My mama
was a Hebrew. Pharisee. He said, no one can
blame me that I ever broke the law. Outwardly, they couldn't.
But after God got through with him, he took all of his religious
credentials, threw them all in a garbage can, and said, they're
nothing but waste. And he said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. Has God brought you to that place?
Well, you can take all your religious experience, all your religious
feelings, throw them all in the garbage, and look to the Lord
Jesus Christ right now in your heart. And say, Oh, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God thy faith. in
Christ Jesus. Notice verse 2. We'll come back
to something here in verse 1. But look at verse 2 for just
a moment. Acts 8 verse 2. And these friends of Stephen,
these devout men, fellow believers, they went and gathered up his
mangled body, his mangled body, treated it decently. They wept. They wept for him, made great
lamentation over him, and they carried him out and buried his
body. Naturally thinking, you know,
we'd have killed the other one. Naturally thinking, we would
have, God, why don't you kill Saul and save Stephen? Wasn't that what we naturally
think? But see, God's ways are so much higher than our ways.
You see, we don't know. We don't know, and these folks,
I'm sure they thought that. Well, God, you're on the throne,
you're sovereign, Stephen's your faithful servant, and yet he
dies, and this old rebel, he lives. God has a purpose. They didn't see it. We see it
by His Word. God had a purpose in sparing
Saul to make him an example. He calls himself later a pattern
of salvation. God holds him forth as a shining
example of God's grace and mercy to the guilty, to the ungodly. And we know that God works all
things after the counsel of his own will. Not so. Known under
God are all his works from the beginning. God graciously took
home Stephen. And He permitted by His purpose
Saul to keep right on hating and persecuting and dragging
and arresting and committing others to death. Some think over
2,000 people. And yet that was all in God's
purpose. You see how His way is so much greater than our way?
Sometimes our vision and sight of things is so myopic. Is that
the right word? Nearsighted. And God sees the
long vision. And we just see things up close
and we wonder why. It's all in His purpose. And we see that now, don't we?
Okay. At the time of Stephen's murder,
many other believers were killed. Notice verse 1. It said there
was a great persecution. This was a great slaughter of
believers. A great persecution. Let me see
if we can get some help on that. In Acts 22, verse 3 and 4, turn
over there. Acts 22, verse 3 and 4. At this
time of Stephen's death, it just seemed to open a floodgate. A
floodgate of others were murdered. Acts 22, verse 3. This is the
Apostle's testimony. It says in Acts 22, 3, I barely
am a man which am a Jew born in Tarsus, the city of Cilicia,
yet brought up in the city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught
according to the perfect manner of the law of our fathers, and
was zealous toward God, as you are all this day. I have persecuted
this way unto death, binding and delivering into prison both
men and women." Another testimony of his in Acts 26, turn over
there, Acts 26 verse Acts 26, 9 and 10. He said, I
barely thought with myself, Acts 26, 9, that I ought to do many
things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing
I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I shut
up in prison, having received authority from a chief priest.
And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. He consented to their death too.
You see, there were many, many that were persecuted and many
that were killed. But all this happened, my friend,
to the furtherance of the gospel. Paul says that in Philippians
1 when he was persecuted beyond measure by others as the apostle,
the preacher of the gospel. He said, those things that happened
unto me happened unto the furtherance of the gospel. They just furthered
God's cause, furthered God's purpose. Now look at verse 3, As for Saul,
Acts chapter 8 verse 3, As for Saul, O Saul of Tarsus, he made
havoc of the church. He wreaked havoc of the church.
Turn to chapter 9 verse 1. We see something else of his
attitude toward Christians, his attitude toward believers. In
Acts 9 verse 1, And Saul, yet breathing out threatening and
slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went into the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogue
that if he found any of this way, the way of grace, the way
of Christ, whether they be men or women, he might bring them
bound to Jerusalem. He just wasn't satisfied to persecute
believers there in Jerusalem. He was going to go to Syria,
Damascus, and work on executing some of those people. who were
lovers of Christ and believers of the gospel. He made havoc,
this hailing, entering houses and hailing and hauling and dragging
men and women and committed them to prison. He was a vicious man,
wasn't he? He was a vicious God-hater. And yet God unhorsed him. You
read chapter 9. We'll see this in the days to
come. a preacher of the gospel, a preacher
of God's grace. Now look at verse 4. Here's where
we want to camp for a few moments. Therefore, they that were scattered
abroad, some were killed, many were scattered, but God used
that persecution to the fervent of the gospel. They were scattered,
they were persecuted, and they went everywhere doing what? Hiding? No. They went everywhere
fleeing, but they went everywhere preaching the gospel in private
and in public. They went everywhere preaching
the gospel. And Philip went down to a city of Samaria and he preached
Christ unto them. Verse 4, preaching the word unto
them. The word, the word of God, the
word of truth. Christ, the gospel. Philip was
one of these seven deacons, it says in verse 5. This is not
Philip the Apostle, but this is Philip, one of the deacons
that were chosen to serve the tables, but he is also a preacher
of the gospel. Went to this certain city and
he preached to them the Lord Jesus Christ. Now why did God
send him to this particular city? Well, God had much people in
that city, and he preached to them He preached to them Christ,
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. He preached the very
word of truth. Why did he do that? Because the
gospel of Christ is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believes it by God's grace. In that gospel is the very righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel. Now, is it necessary that we
preach the gospel? Absolutely. Let me show you two
scriptures. 1 Corinthians 9. Is it necessary
that we go and preach the gospel? Yes. If we preach, that is to
declare, we better declare the truth, we better declare the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, or just stop preaching. Now look
at 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16. 1 Corinthians
9 verse 16. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me." It's
necessary. Necessity is laid upon me. Well,
who laid that upon him? God did. God's purpose. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. It's necessary to preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ. What does that involve? Well,
turn over here to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Now here, listen to what he says
here. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5. We preach not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servant for his sake. For
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of crime. We're preaching the
gospel that glorifies God. How? In Christ Jesus. For we
have this treasure in an earthen vessel, that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. Not of us. God forbid we should glory save
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to ask
you this question. What is it to preach the gospel of Christ? Is everyone preaching the gospel
of Christ? I wish they were. Four things
are involved in preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's to tell the truth, first of all, of sin, of man's ruin,
of man's fall. Isn't that exactly where Stephen
started with these? When he finished his history
of redemption, he says in Acts 7, verse 51, you stiff-necked,
uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist God. You're
nothing but rebels, unbelieving in heart and dead in sin. So to preach the gospel is to
tell the truth about sin. To tell the truth about our fall,
our ruin in Adam, that in Adam all died. He stood as a representative
man, and when he sinned and rebelled against God, it plunged all of
us into ruin. By one man's disobedience, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin. So it's to preach the
truth of the fall. That's what we call ruin. Ruin
by the fall. Sin entered into all men. We have a sin nature within us
that we're born with. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that understand. There's none that seek after
God. They're all gone out of the way. That's all of us. And
to declare the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is to tell
the truth about sin. What we are. How I'm born. Dead in sin. Secondly, it's to
tell the truth about God, is it not? What one word. What one word describes the God
of Holy Scripture? Can you sum up his whole character
with one word? One word. What word would you
use? God is holy. You say, well, God is love. That's
true. But his love is holy love. You say, God is merciful. That's
true. But he's not merciful at the expense of his holiness.
He is love, but He's not love at the expense of His holiness,
His holy mercy, holy love. God is holy. And that's the God that's revealed
in this scripture. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. How holy is God? He's so holy
He can have anything to do with me in the way of mercy apart
from law being satisfied, apart from God's justice being honored.
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's to tell the truth about
God, that He's holy, that He's sovereign. What do we mean by
that God is sovereign? You know the word sovereign is
not in the Bible. Did you know that? The word sovereignty
is not in the Bible? The word reign is God reigns. That means He rules over all
things with absolute authority. creation, providence, and most
especially, in salvation. God is God. He is holy. He is sovereign. And He is eternal. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob, you are not consumed. Because
He doesn't change. Thank God He doesn't change. So to tell
the truth about man, about sin, is to tell the truth about God.
What is it to preach the gospel? That's what these people did.
They went everywhere declaring the Word. That's the testimony
of Holy Scripture. And then whenever we're preaching
and setting forth the Lord Jesus Christ as the glorious Savior
of sinners. Thirdly, what is it to preach
the gospel? This is a good outline. You can
write it down and give it to your friends, friends and family.
Thirdly, to tell the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is
this one, the Lord? Well, let's see what we've learned
so far in the book of Acts. Turn over here to Acts chapter
2. What does the record of Holy Scripture say about the Lord
Jesus Christ? It's to tell the truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is God's appointed sacrifice
for sin. In Acts chapter 2, verse 22,
you men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth. A man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you, as yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by wicked
hands, have crucified and slain." He's delivered by God's determinate
counsel. He's God's sacrifice for sin. So to tell the truth about him
is to tell the truth about what he accomplished. As the Savior
of His people, He put away their sin. Now in Acts chapter 2 verse
36, here we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ, He is Lord by God's
decree. He's not Lord by something we
do. Acts 2 verse 36, Therefore let all the house of Israel know
it surely, that God hath made that same Jesus, the Savior,
whom you crucified, God hath made Him Lord and Christ. He's
Lord by not something we do. He's Lord by God's decree. God
has made Him Lord. In His office is Mediator. Our
Savior. He is the Lord. We don't make
Him Lord. We bow to His Lordship. We worship
Him as God and Lord. Something else. The truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ is found in Acts chapter 4, verse 12. He said, this is the stone which
is set at naught of you builders, but he's ahead of the corner.
Verse 12 of Acts 4, neither is there salvation in any other.
There's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. This one who died the appointed
death at the appointed time to the appointed people is the only
Savior of sinners. Salvation's in him. That was
their message, and that's our message. Something else, I'm
talking about the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God,
manifest in the flesh, come at God's appointed time in the fullness
of time. God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem His people. In Acts
chapter 5, notice this. In Acts chapter 5, Peter said,
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed and
hanged on a tree. He's the exalted Savior. When
He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down at the right hand
of God. God raised Him up. He's a victorious Savior. Him has God exalted with His
right hand to be Prince, Priest, King, Savior, to give repentance
to His people. He is King in salvation. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. That's what it is to tell the
truth. about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is to preach the
gospel, to tell the truth about man, about sin, about God, about
salvation in Christ. This idea of Jesus wants to and
can, He tries to and fails, that's another Jesus. You know, Paul
talks about that in 2 Corinthians 11, doesn't he? Another Jesus
and another gospel and another spirit. That's not this one we
read of in Scripture. He's a victorious Lord. He's
a victorious King. And we bow and we worship Him
as God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly, what is it
to preach the gospel? It's to tell the truth about
salvation. It's to tell the truth about salvation. That's what
they went. They went everywhere preaching. Don't look to the law. Look to
Christ. Look to the One who fulfilled
the law. Look to his obedience for acceptance before God. By
one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the
obedience of another, shall many be made righteous. So we declare
the truth of salvation. That salvation is all of God's
grace. Grace. I love that. Grace. You mean I contribute nothing?
Nothing. I mean salvation. You mean salvation
is all of His doing? I mean all of it. We say, well,
sinners have to believe. That's right. Even that is by
the grace of God. We believe by the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this was their message.
Turn to Acts chapter 13. Salvation is all of God's grace.
Justified freely by His grace. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy. God saved us by
mercy. Acts 13, verse 38, Be it known
unto you, therefore, men and brethren, Acts 13, 38, that through
this man is preached to you forgiveness of sin. How can we have forgiveness
of sin through this one who died? It's who He is that gives value
to what He did. God bought us with His own blood. Through this man is preached
to you the forgiveness of sin, and by Him all that believe.
We believe according to the working of his mighty power. That's how
we believe. All that believe are justified
from all things which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. In Acts chapter 15 verse 11,
turn over there. When they had this great council
and Peter stood up and said, we believe this. that God's going
to save the Gentiles the same way He saved the Jew, and God's
going to save the Jew the same way He saved the Gentiles, and
that's by the free and sovereign grace of God. Verse 11, We believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved. You see, it's all of God's merit.
It's all of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Alone. Salvation in Christ alone. All of Him. All of Christ. God has ordained to call out
His elect through the preaching of the gospel. It's necessary
to the salvation of His elect. Of His own will, beget He us
with the word of truth. There has to be a seed in the
birth, doesn't there? The seed is the word of truth.
Being born again, not of a corruptible seed, but of an incorruptible
seed. What is that? The word of God.
The gospel. How can you believe that which
you've not How can you believe? You see, even the message of
the gospel is sent to generate and to give faith. Faith comes
by hearing and that message sent of God. It pleased God through
the preaching of the gospel to save them that would believe
the gospel. Why was Philip directed down
to this particular city of Samaria? The Lord had a multitude of his
people there, and he's going to send them a gospel preacher
to cross their path and call them with the gospel. Now look
at verse 6 and verse 7. And the people with one accord
gave heed, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. They
gave heed because God spoke in power through these men. The
people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip
spoke." He spoke the Word of truth. He spoke the truth of
God. Hearing and seeing the miracles that he did, God supernaturally
blessed his Word. And at this particular time,
God gave some in the early church special gifts to demonstrate
they were sent of God. They had God's message. Many
who were demon-possessed, in verse 7, Unclean spirits came
out. You see, God is God. He commands
the unclean spirit to go out. He healed those who were crippled,
the lame, and there was great joy in the city. Many demon-possessed
were set free. It's the truth that sets men
free. And many that were lame were healed. Many were healed
of physical diseases, but many were also healed of their spiritual
diseases. And this is the purpose of God's
gospel. It's sent to those who are sinners. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous. The disciples were asked that
day, why does your master eat with sinners and publicans? He
said, those who are well don't need a position, but those who
are sick, go learn what that means. I'll have mercy, not sacrifice. I didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. You see, salvation is for sinners,
my friend. The grace of God is designed
for our spiritual healing. By nature, we're spiritually
blind. He calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light with
the Word of Truth. By nature, we're unclean. There's none righteous, no, not
one. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed is the man to whom God
will impute righteousness without worth. That's the good news of
the Gospel. We're spiritually dead. By His
grace, He quickens us and makes us alive in Him. And it's all
of God's grace. It's pictured by Lazarus laying
in that tomb, dead four days, and stinking, someone said. And
the Lord walked up to that grave and said, Lazarus, come out of
there. And he that was dead came forth.
That's salvation, my friend. And that's a picture of God quickening
dead sinners and giving them life in Christ. And that's the
gospel that we read of. And the fruit of that, in closing,
verse 8, there was great persecution, remember? There was great weeping,
remember? Now we hear and see great joy. Great joy in that city. Great joy. There was great rejoicing. Believers in Christ have a rainbow
of reasons to rejoice in Him. Let me show you real quick. Turn to Philippians chapter 3. Here's the reason and the rainbow
of rejoicing. Blessed is the man to whom God
would choose and cause to approach unto Him, Psalm 65. Blessed be
God who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies
in Christ Jesus. Blessed is that man to whom God
would impute righteousness without works. Now look at Philippians
chapter 3, verse 3. For we are the true Israel. We are the true circumcision,
that of the heart. God has operated on the heart.
That's a reason to rejoice in Christ. We are the true Israel,
the true regenerated people of God. We worship God in the spirit,
not in visual aids. We worship God in spirit and
in truth. Secondly, we rejoice in Christ
Jesus. We rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. And thirdly, it says there, we
have no confidence. We have no confidence in the
flesh. We're not looking to the flesh
to satisfy God, are we? We're looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. For all of salvation, all of
salvation, vested totally in