Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY

Acts | Part 10 | Martyr's Courage

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What does a real follower of Jesus look like? In this powerful examination of the first Christian martyr, we discover how Stephen's story provides an extraordinary model for authentic discipleship today.

Stephen emerges from the pages of Acts as a man whose life was marked by Christ-like character. Described as "full of grace and power," he embodied the perfect balance that Jesus himself displayed—standing firmly for truth while extending remarkable grace to others. While many Christians today might emphasize spiritual gifts and experiences, Stephen reminds us that the power of God means little without the character of God being formed in our lives.

When confronted with opposition, Stephen didn't retreat or soften his message. Instead, he delivered a masterful defense of the faith, demonstrating deep knowledge of Scripture and redemptive history. His approach challenges us in an age where many believers struggle to articulate why they believe what they believe. As the religious leaders resorted to false accusations and character assassination, Stephen remained calm and composed—even his enemies noted that his face shone "like the face of an angel."

Most powerful is Stephen's Christ-like response in his final moments. As stones rained down upon him, he prayed for his killers' forgiveness and saw Jesus standing—not seated—at God's right hand, ready to welcome His faithful servant home. Though Stephen lost his earthly life, his testimony planted seeds in the heart of a young man named Saul, who would later become the apostle Paul.

This remarkable account forces us to confront a sobering question: What are we willing to lose for Christ? Are we prepared to sacrifice reputation, comfort, relationships, or even our lives for the sake of following Jesus? Stephen's example reminds us that real discipleship isn't measured by what we gain in this world, but by what we're willing to surrender for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.

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Speaker 1:

Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word. I'm reading in Acts, chapter 6, beginning with verse 8, 8 through 15, and then a few verses in Acts, chapter 7. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

Speaker 1:

Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council. And they set up false witnesses who said this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and against the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. And, gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw his face was like the face of an angel, in chapter 7, beginning with verse 54.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now, when they had heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him. But he, for the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. And he said behold, I see the heavens opened and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stone him, and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. God blessed the reading of his word and all the people said Amen.

Speaker 2:

You may be seated. Thank you, ron. You may be seated. Thank you, ron. One of the greatest feats in life is to accomplish something for the first time in history. On July 31st 1790, the first US patent, patent number one, was granted to a man by the name of Samuel Hawkins. The document was signed by George Washington himself and Thomas Jefferson. In 1903, the Wright brothers, as you know, achieved the first power, sustained and controlled airplane flight. I think it lasted about what? 12 seconds. In 1932, amelia Earhart became the first woman to complete a solo transatlantic flight. In 1953, sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa were the first to conquer Mount Everest.

Speaker 2:

On August 6, 1991, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee launched the very first website. It was a webpage about webpages, how to navigate them and even how to create one. Paris Hilton didn't think you'd hear her name this morning, did you Claimed that she and Britney Spears created the selfie, but that is not true. The first selfie was taken by that we know of was taken by a man by the name of Robert Cornelius. Anybody want to guess the year 1839. Hey, I'm just glad you're into the sermon. All right, and since it's March, madness, who knows a little trivia here? 1939 was the first NCAA tournament. Does anybody know who won that first tournament? We wish, we wish we would have won this one. We wish we wish we would have won this one Oregon. Who said Oregon, good job. Who did they beat Ohio State, all right. What'd she say?

Speaker 2:

Well, the book of Acts records many firsts, doesn't it? It's a book of firsts within the context of the church. In Acts, chapter 2, we see the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's church. After that first outpouring, we see the first sermon by Peter after Christ's ascension. And after Peter preaches, we see the first influx of souls coming to the Lord Jesus Christ 3,000 men plus women and children being saved. And today, in Acts, chapter 6, we come upon another first, namely the first martyr, the first one who gave his life for the sake of the gospel. The first one who gave his life for the sake of the gospel the story of a man by the name of Stephen. He was one of the deacons appointed in the beginning of chapter 6. He was a deacon appointed to take care of the Hellenistic widows. They were kind of falling through the cracks when it came to food distribution. So Stephen was one of the seven men who were elected to take care of that issue. Now, something interesting about Stephen's story.

Speaker 2:

Do you know in the book of Acts that three out of 12 apostles are never explicitly mentioned? Three out of 12. Explicitly mentioned, three out of 12. Another one, matthias, is only mentioned by name in Acts, chapter 1, and he's just said to be Judas Iscariot's replacement. So you have four apostles who are essentially not mentioned in Acts, but we come to a deacon by the name of Stephen. And do you know that Luke, the writer of Acts, devotes over 70 verses to tell his story? You think Luke might want us to learn something from this man of God.

Speaker 2:

You know we talk a lot in this church about being real. Real is in our name, right, we are real life community church and our mission is to equip people to be real followers of Jesus. There are many people today who claim to be Christian, but their lifestyles do not line up with that claim. It's clear they don't have a true understanding of the gospel. It's true they don't treasure Christ above all things. And we would call those nominal Christians. They might come to church on Sunday, maybe once, twice a month, and then they go out and there's no change. They live like the rest of the world. Those are name only, nominal Christians. That's not what we want, amen. We want to be real followers of Jesus and when I was reading through the story of Stephen and praying through just kind of how to apply this to our church, I think what the Lord laid on my heart is that we have a almost picture perfect image of what it looks like to be real followers of Jesus, of what it looks like to be real followers of Jesus.

Speaker 2:

So I just want to, with that in mind, I want to unpack Stephen's story here and just bear with me. I've got over 70 verses to get through. All right, I'm going to summarize a lot of it. Number one first thing I want you to glean from his story is this a real follower of Jesus has Christ-like character. A real follower of Jesus has Christ-like character. Look at verses 8 and 9.

Speaker 2:

And Stephen, full of what Grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people, and then some of those who belong to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians, and of some of those who belong to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians and of those of Cilicia and Asia. They rose up and disputed Stephen. Now it's interesting here to me that Luke mentions that Stephen was full of grace and power and that he was doing great signs and wonders. Signs and wonders are beneficial right. They often through the book of Acts and, I believe, still today, when the gospel goes into new territory, they serve to gain an audience, to make a platform for men and women of God to share the gospel. But it's interesting to me here that Luke doesn't unpack any of that like what it looked like for him to do signs and wonders, like if it was us we'd be like come on, tell us more. Tell us more about these signs and wonders and I don't want to diminish the importance of the power of God that's manifested in that way. But Luke barely mentions that.

Speaker 2:

But do you know he spends over 70 verses talking about the character and the wisdom of Stephen. Here's what I want you to get. This is worth writing down. The power of the Spirit means little without the fruit of the Spirit. Or you could say the power of the Spirit means little without the fruit of the Spirit. Or you could say the power of God means little without the character of God in our lives. Stephen first, we see, operates in grace and truth In John 1.14,. Does this remind you of anybody? And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is Jesus and we have seen His glory. Glory is the only Son from the Father full of what. It's not a trick question Grace and truth. This is wonderful.

Speaker 2:

Stephen emulates Jesus by operating and displaying both grace and truth. Let's start with truth. Stephen is a Greek speaking Jew, so he's going to different, let's say Greek speaking synagogues in Jerusalem and he is sharing with his Jewish brothers the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in the men. We know that because it says in verses eight and nine that the men in the synagogues rise up and begin to dispute him. In chapter seven he's taken before the Sanhedrin, by the way, the council that was responsible for Jesus' death and arrest and the council that had just threatened Peter and John not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus. And Stephen is brought before them and he again boldly preaches the risen Christ, the good news of Jesus. And I'm telling you we'll go through a little bit of that sermon, but I'm telling you he's courageous and bold. He preaches truth. But not only that, he's not just a man of truth, he's a man of grace.

Speaker 2:

Verse 8, luke says he was full of grace. What this tells me is that his goal in teaching the hard truths and calling out those in the council, his goal was not to destroy them. His goal was not to appear smarter than them. You know what his goal was. You know what his motive was. It was love. He loved his Jewish brothers and he wanted them to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And sometimes I mean you just take verse 54 in chapter seven on and this blistering, you know speech that he gives you you might think, man, there's no grace here. Oh, it's grace Beloved. The most grace, gracious thing you could do is help people realize their own depravity so that they might see their need for a savior. You know grace and the balance of grace and truth is is very important. You can write this down grace without truth will keep people in bondage, because the what set you free, the Truth without grace, will harden people's hearts towards the gospel. So it's balance between grace and truth is important.

Speaker 2:

Stephen, just to go on a little bit further, he's controlled by the spirit. In Acts, chapter six at the beginning, hunter preached a great message on that last week, you know. The apostles called for seven deacons to be appointed to take care of the practical needs of the Hellenistic Jews, the widows, and he says that these men are to be full of the spirit and of wisdom. And so Stephen is one of those men, and so he is a man full of the spirit. Now we've talked about in Acts, we've seen that to be full of the Spirit, or to be baptized with the Spirit, means in part to walk in the power of God, to walk in spiritual gifts and those kind of things, and that's a good thing. But there's another sense, let's say another facet of being full of the Spirit. Uh, let's say another facet of being full of the spirit.

Speaker 2:

So in Ephesians 5, 18, uh, paul says be not drunk on wine but be filled or full of the Holy spirit. If you're drunk on wine, what are you? Controlled by wine, alcohol, and you'll do some stupid things. So Paul says don't do that, all right. So if you don't get anything else, just from this today, just know, don't go out and get drunk on wine, all right, you're welcome. But then he says, but he contrasts with that and he says do this be filled with the Spirit. In other words, you're drunk on wine, you're controlled by wine. You're filled with the Spirit. You're controlled by wine. You're filled with the Spirit, you're controlled by the Spirit.

Speaker 2:

And so Stephen, who is full of grace and truth, is just full of the Spirit. He is controlled by the Spirit. And it's a crazy story to read because he is persecuted on such a great level and he just keeps his cool. I mean, they just can't get under his skin. It's a beautiful, beautiful story. So, as real followers of Jesus, we must display Christian character. Secondly, a real follower of Jesus will experience persecution. We saw this a couple of weeks ago. As Paul wrote, all who desire to live a spiritual life or a godly life will be persecuted.

Speaker 2:

Stephen is persecuted in this text. He is disputed, he is lied against and ultimately stoned because of his love for the Lord Jesus Christ and his willingness to follow him. What are these charges brought against him? Look at verses 10 through 14. So these men rise up in the synagogues to dispute Stephen, and I love this, but they could not withstand the wisdom of the Spirit. You know when you're arguing against the truth of God, when somebody comes against us and we're standing in God's truth, the truth. There's no argument that's going to win. That's frustrating to people Then they secretly here's going back to the text.

Speaker 2:

They secretly instigated men so here's what they resort to who said we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God, and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and they came upon him and they seized him and brought him to the council and they set up false witnesses, liars who said this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place that would be the temple and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, the temple, and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. The men go for the jugular. All right, I mean. This is no.

Speaker 2:

These accusations are serious and punishable by death. They accuse Stephen of blasphemy. You know what blasphemy is? It's slandering God. It's not a good thing to do. This is pretty familiar, because this is exactly what happened to Jesus In Mark 14, jesus is brought before the high priest and the religious leaders bring false claims against him, false witnesses, just like this story. And you know what? They accuse him of Blasphemy. They accuse Stephen of blasphemy in four areas Blasphemy against Moses, against God, against the law and against the temple.

Speaker 2:

Now, they can't win the argument. So you know what they're doing here. Here's what they're doing. They are employing what's called an ad hominem argument, which means that they attack the person rather than the position. So if you are talking about the gospel or really anything, if you're standing up for God's moral law, whatever, people cannot win the argument. Here's what they do they start attacking you personally, your character.

Speaker 2:

Let me just give you an example. As a Christian, I hope you are staunchly pro-life. Yes, abortion is a grave sin. You agree with that? All right, I'm in the right church and so part of our job as Christians is to stand up for the unborn. So sometimes we'll get in the conversation with people and we hopefully have the balance of grace and truth and we'll argue for the sanctity of life, and they'll try to argue back but there is no valid argument for abortion. It's barbaric. Are you kidding me? So what do they do? They attack our character and they'll say things like this you don't care about a woman's rights over her own body? That's a straw man argument and it's stupid and it's untrue. Is that true. Okay, that's what the men are doing to Stephen here.

Speaker 2:

But I want you to look at how he responds to this. This is so great. Look at verse 15 in chapter 6, and gazing at him. So they just accuse him of blasphemy and they're looking at him. How's he going to respond? And all who sat in the council saw that his face was like that of an angel. You know what people, when people come against you, particularly about your faith, you know what they want you to do Throw a fit, throw a tantrum, come down to their level, get mad, cry, yell, scream, so that they can bring a valid charge against you. Say see, I told you he's like that. That's not what Stephen does. He doesn't need to vindicate himself. God is his vindicator. Right here they're accusing him, right, what's he doing? He's reflecting the glory of God right back to him. Wonderful Face, like an angel.

Speaker 2:

Oh man, chapter 7 now Stephen begins. He's seized from the synagogue and he's taken before the Sanhedrin, these religious leaders who wills, a great deal of power. And he begins. They say, hey, how do you answer these charges of blasphemy? And he begins to answer them. Now I'm not going to read the 60 verses of chapter 7. You're welcome, but I encourage you to read it later and use your study guide, because it's going to go a lot deeper into this. But here's what I do want you to read it later and use your study guide, because it's going to go a lot deeper into this. But here's what I do want you to notice first. Here's where Stephen begins.

Speaker 2:

He begins by identifying with the religious leaders. Look at verse 2. And Stephen said brothers and fathers, hear me, brothers and fathers, hear me. I want you to get what he's doing here. He's surrounded by a lot of people, the sanhedrin, who are his religious leaders, synagogue leaders and just regular jewish people, and he says he starts off by addressing them as brothers. In other words, I am your brother, I am a fellow Jew. I'm not here to betray my people. I'm here to bring good news to my people. I love the Jewish people. You are my brothers.

Speaker 2:

Then he addresses the council as fathers that's a respectful term towards his elders, his leaders. It's like if you were arguing with, let's say, a president and you were very upset and disagreed with everything he or she said, but you still address that person as president, mr President, still address that person as president, mr President, you know, out of respect, that's what he's doing here, and because he approaches the conversation this way, he gets their attention and they bend their ears towards him. And then what he does is he moves into this great, long discourse. Do you know? This is the longest discourse in the book of Acts, longer than any sermon Peter preached, or Paul. Here's what he does here. He defends the faith. This is called the discipline of apologetics, which just means it's not that we say we're sorry, but it's defending the faith. And do you know, this is something that we're all called to do. Peter said in his first epistle. He said to all of us always be prepared to give a defense for the hope that is within you in Christ Jesus. And I'm just going to sidetrack here for a moment, because this is so important, particularly if you have, you know, youth or college students, but it's important for all of us.

Speaker 2:

There is a movement right now called the Christian Deconstruction movement, and it involves a critical re-evaluation of long-held beliefs and doctrines, often leading to a revised or even an abandoned faith. I mean, you've got college students by the droves who are being challenged. Their faith is being challenged and because they have no defense. Many of them, by the multitudes, are walking away. And this is happening, by the way, to people of all ages. And here's the problem, particularly in the American church, the American church Number one, a lot of people don't even know what they believe because they're not sitting under doctrinal preaching. So they can't articulate what they believe, much less defend why they believe it. And so when some atheist comes up to them and begins criticizing their faith and telling them it's irrational and it's just fables, they have no defense. And so right now, pastor Jerry and Casey are taking the high schoolers and the junior highers through a book by Paul Little.

Speaker 2:

You might write this down because it'd be good for all of you. It's a starting point for apologetics. It's called Know why you Believe and in the introduction it's called Know why you Believe. And in the introduction Paul Little says this to be a Christian, you do not have to lose your mind. There are rational reasons to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, historical reasons to believe in the historicity of the resurrection. So we need to be ready, church, to give a defense for the faith. And so this is what he does. And we. We don't defend the faith the same way every time.

Speaker 2:

So here, what you're going to see is that Stephen defends the faith. Remember, he's talking to Jews and even religious or biblical teachers, scholars, teachers of the law, and so what he's going to do is preach Christ and show the validity of Christ as the Messiah by quoting all kinds of Old Testament scripture, which should tell us that the Old Testament, by the way, is still really important. Amen. You can't understand the New Testament if you don't know the Old Testament. So this is how he approaches this, and I'll give you a quick summary in just a moment. Paul, on the other hand, later on in the book of Acts, when he's debating pagans, he doesn't quote scripture that means nothing to them. He appeals, I guess you could say, to their rationale. So we need to be sensitive to who we're talking to and meet people where they are, and, thank God, the Holy Spirit helps us in those moments, amen.

Speaker 2:

So Stephen gives the council here a survey of Israel's history. All right, now, remember, he's being accused of blasphemy against Moses, god, the temple and the law, and so, through use, by using Israel's story, he shows that he's not the one who's guilty of blasphemy. So let's, let's go through this. So he begins with Abraham. God's covenant with Abraham, the father of God's people, and through that lens he's showing them straight away, is I believe in your God. I serve the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And then he moves from Abraham to the 12 patriarchs of Israel. These are the 12 sons of Jacob, and Stephen recalls how they uh how God put a special calling on one brother. You remember the story? Joseph and Joseph had the dream. Remember that he would be exalted or rule over his brothers. The brothers don't much like this, and you probably wouldn't either. They become jealous and in so doing they resist God's deliverer for their family. They take him out and they sell him into slavery and off he goes to Egypt. Stephen's point is this it's a bit cryptic, but this is the point he's saying I'm not the one guilty of blasphemy, but those 12 patriarchs who you love so much. They blaspheme God by rejecting his deliverer.

Speaker 2:

And then he moves on to Moses, whom he's also accused of blaspheming. You remember when the Israelites were in bondage under Pharaoh? They were slaves. God raised up Moses to deliver his people. He recalls an instance, stephen does where moses came upon two israelites this is before the exodus and one of them was being wronged and seemed threatened by an egyptian. And so moses is the deliverer of God's people stands up and he takes that Egyptian's life in order to avenge his Jewish brothers.

Speaker 2:

Well, the following day, moses appeared again to those same two Israelites. He runs across them and they're now quarreling with one another. And so he jumps in and tries to separate them and solve the problem. And they look at him and they say, essentially, what are you going to do? Kill us, like you did the Egyptian, instead of being grateful and realizing that he is the deliverer that God has sent. Here's what they say who made you judge and ruler over us? Who do you think you are? Moses? And apparently there was a great threat against Moses by then, because Moses went into exile for 40 years. It cost him 40 more years of slavery.

Speaker 2:

Is it Stephen who blasphemed Moses? No, it's the forefathers, whom the council respects so much. See the pattern in the story of Israel, respect so much. See the pattern in the story of israel. So then the synagogue remember, had the men of the synagogue? Um, they have accused steven of blasphemy against the law. And so, to rebut this accusation, steven continues. This is brilliant, I mean, he's brilliant.

Speaker 2:

He continues with the moses narrative and he, he goes to the exodus story. Remember, uh, moses goes into Moses narrative and he goes to the Exodus story. Remember, moses goes into Egypt and he sings that song. Let my people go right, all right. So God uses him in a mighty way and God sends all these plagues, and then he eventually finally parts the Red Sea and he takes, by the hand of Moses, the people of Israel through the Red Sea and on to the promised land, and the waters close over the Egyptians, wiping them out. God raised up Moses as the deliverer.

Speaker 2:

Now, in the wilderness, moses goes up to Mount Sinai and the Lord is with him and he gives them what? Yeah, the commandments, the law. Now, the first of the chief law is the first of the Ten Commandments, which is this you shall have no other gods before me. The second commandment is a prohibition against making false idols. And while Moses is up there in the presence of God, remember, god just rescued the people, the true God. He's brought them out of pagan Egypt. And what do they do? They get bored while they're down at the mountain and they're going listen, I don't know when Moses is coming back. And they look to Aaron and they say, aaron, would you make us an Egyptian god, an idol? And Aaron says okay, he acquiesces and he takes their jewelry and he forms this kind of golden calf, I guess, and they make a sacrifice to it. God's just see how adulterous and idolatrous they are. God's just rescued them and this is how they repay him. We're going to worship this golden calf. Judgment comes upon the people, but god does save a remnant.

Speaker 2:

You see what stephen's doing here. You're telling me that I've blasphemed the law. Who actually blasphemed it? Not me, it's your forefathers, who were in the wilderness and they made idols. Not just that one time, but their. Their history from that time until babylonian captivity is littered with idolatry. I just love this, so brilliant.

Speaker 2:

Finally, stephen moves on to the last accusation, that he is blaspheming the temple. The temple is the center of Jewish life and worship, and so he acknowledges that. He goes back even to the tabernacle where God was with him in the wilderness, and he says he validates God's use of the tabernacle in the temple, but the warning here that he gives is a warning against making too much of the temple. It's almost like the temple and the traditions have been raised above God and what he reminds them by using Isaiah 66,. As a matter of fact, let me just read verses one, and this is Isaiah 66. As a matter of fact, let me just read verses one and this is Isaiah 66, one and two.

Speaker 2:

Thus says the Lord heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for me and what is the place of my rest? Here's what Stephen's doing. In quoting that. He's saying listen, this temple was a place for you to meet God, but it was only a sign of something greater to come. It was always meant to be temporary. You think you can confine God's presence to a temple, but the earth is his footstool and heaven is his throne. It pointed to something greater, and we know now that Jesus is that third temple, the one who came to be the channel of God's presence to us. And now, even greater news is that we get to be part of that temple. We are stones in the temple. Christ is the cornerstone, which means everywhere we go, we're taking the presence of God with us. Our bodies are temples of the Holy spirit. So there it is.

Speaker 2:

Stephen defends himself, showing it's not he but the forefathers who are guilty of blasphemy. And then comes the fun part he turns the tables. With this blistering climax verses 51 through 53. He turns to the council. Listen to. He says you, stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you, you, you see the point. You always resist the Holy Spirit. He's talking to religious leaders as your fathers did. So do you? Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, jesus, their Messiah, whom you have betrayed and murdered. You who received the laws delivered by the angels and did not keep it. Mic drop. You're accusing me Stephen's saying of blaspheming God. You killed your own Messiah. How does the council respond? Now? This is really important. Look at verse 54.

Speaker 2:

Now, when they heard these things, they were overjoyed. They smiled and shook his hand and went on their way. No, when they heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth, gnashed their teeth. Now, does that sound familiar In hell? What is there? Gnashing of teeth? Now, I don't like this translation. I love the ESV, but I don't like this translation, and I won't get into why. I think they did this, but I don't like the translation of this phrase. I don't like the translation of this phrase. They were enraged. And here's why I want you to go to Acts, chapter 2, in verse 37. So in Acts, chapter 2, peter, full of the Holy Spirit, preaches a very similar message, a tough truth, to a Jewish crowd. And after he's done preaching, I want you to look at verse 37. Here's what the text says. This is the ESV as well.

Speaker 2:

Now, when they heard this, they were what Cut to the heart. This means that Peter was preaching under the unction of the Holy Spirit and God, by the Spirit Spirit, convicted the Jews that were listening. The phrase literally means to be wrenched into. Have you ever been under preaching and you just you hear the Word of God, or maybe you've just even been reading the Word of God in yourself and your heart is just piercing and you know you've got to make a change in your life, just piercing and you know you've got to make a change in your life. So in Acts, chapter 7, can we go back one? In Acts, chapter 7, verse 54, they were enraged. That is the same exact phrase used in Acts 2, 47. Or no, 37. Same phrase In both places. In my estimation it should be translated they were cut to the heart. Let me tell you why I point this out.

Speaker 2:

Peter preached and Stephen preached, both full of the Spirit In God, convicted. In Acts, chapter 2, he convicted the hearts of the people. I mean, he accused them of killing the Messiah. And how do they respond? They're cut to the heart and they ask Lord Peter, what do we do? And Peter says repent and be baptized for the remission of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit. And what do they do? 3,000 plus repent and are baptized. Well, the same cutting to the heart, the same heart surgery happens by the Holy Spirit to these Sanhedrin. They know Stephen's right, they are convicted, and Stephen and the Holy Spirit means to draw them to repentance. They're cut to the heart but, unlike that first group, they gnash their teeth. And you know what they end up doing.

Speaker 2:

You read on a little more. They actually, as Stephen keeps talking, they plug their ears like two-year-olds La, la, la, la, la, la la. They can't listen to it Seriously and they harden their hearts. Listen. I've had altar calls where I know God's speaking to somebody and I've literally seen people grip the chair like this because they're resisting what God's doing. Okay, if you can't see me, they're grabbing the top of the chair and just.

Speaker 2:

And then there's other people. I love the lady who came down a few months ago. I wouldn't even finish with giving an invitation and she's just coming down to me. I thought she was going to tackle me, she didn't, but just crying and saying I want to rededicate my life to jesus under the conviction of the holy spirit. How are you going to respond today if the lord's speaking to you? All right, I better move on and bring this to an end.

Speaker 2:

So they're very upset, they gnash their teeth and and Stephen just keeps talking and he says full of the Holy Spirit, stephen gazed into heaven verse 55, and he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing just underline that word standing at the right hand of God, and he said this is so amazing. And he said this is so amazing. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. Take Stephen outside the city and they stone him. And I just want to tell you again you might not lose your life for the sake of Christ, but every Christian will be persecuted on some level. Which brings me to a shorter and final point. A real follower of Jesus Is willing to lose everything For the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2:

Look at Stephen's posture, verse 55. But he, stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed in into heaven and he says this behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. Stephen has just witnessed the hardening of the hearts of the council. He knows he's about to be killed, very likely, but he remains calm and he doesn't complain. And he doesn't turn his back and shake his fist at God and say Lord, I'm doing your work, how dare you let this happen to me? He just says I look into heaven and I see the glory of God and Jesus Christ In verse 60, falling to his knees as he's being stoned, he cried out with a loud voice Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

Speaker 2:

And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Stephen, just like Jesus. Remember Jesus on the cross. What'd he say? Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Stephen is not angry, remember, he loves these people. He didn't preach this message to tear them up, he preached it out. It's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance. His posture is one of love and grace and sacrifice to the very end. That's his posture.

Speaker 2:

Let's look at his prize, verse 56, again Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. Now doesn't the Scripture say that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father? In other words, that means that when Jesus ascended His work at the cross remember he said it is finished, his work was done so he could be seated. Now, is Stephen just delirious here? Is he wrong? No, when he says I see God, jesus, standing, there are many thoughts as to why Jesus is standing. Just think logically about this for a moment. When somebody honorable comes in the room, what do you do? You stand for him. And I think Stephen, who is being stoned and being faithful to Christ, as he looks up at the final moments of his life, he sees Jesus get up and I think he's about to hear well done, my good and faithful servant. It's the greatest prize, the greatest reward that you could ever ask for. Notice it says after he was stoned, after he said Lord, forgive him, he fell asleep.

Speaker 2:

That's a way, a biblical way, for talking about a Christian dying. And this is great language, because if you are in Christ, you don't die, you don't. Let's say this you die, but you don't. You're not annihilated. Let's say you just move from one life to the other. I mean, in a moment, it's one second you're here and the next you're with Jesus. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Speaker 2:

This is his prize. He's willing to lose it all, even his life, for the sake of gaining Christ. Isn't this what Paul said in Philippians 3.8? Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ. Paul lost everything. He had reputation, he had money, he had friends and accolades, and he laid it all down Stone shipwreck, beaten, left for dead. And he says it's all done anyways, compared to what I have in Christ Jesus. A real follower of Jesus is willing to lose everything for the sake of Christ. So we've looked at his posture and his prize, but let's finally look at his purpose, his purpose.

Speaker 2:

Why would God allow him to suffer like this? I mean, if we were watching this as a movie and we didn't know how the story came out, you know, if this was just a movie, what would happen? You know, this is an action movie and somebody's standing there at the end and these men are getting ready to stone him. The God in the movie would come down and obliterate those people, right? Or he would get some superpower and wipe them all out, or, if it's Chuck Norris, he would just look at them and they'd fall to the ground, right? That's not what God does here. God lets him die for preaching the gospel.

Speaker 2:

Why? Why? Well, the text doesn't specifically tell us, but I have a suspicion, because at the end of chapter 7 and in verse 1 in chapter 8, there's a man who's mentioned, who's one of the persecutors, the one who approved of his execution. Who is it? Saul? And who is Saul? He's the Apostle Paul later on in the book of Acts, the one who would go on to write 13. Paul later on in the book of Acts, the one who would go on to write 13 of 27 books in the New Testament. He's Paul. It is Paul who took the gospel into the Western world. So let me just say this, just think about this. You know, part of the reason we're here this morning is because Paul received Christ. And so watch this. Ron and I talked about this at our elders meeting. Is it possible? Is it possible that Luke mentions Paul in this or Saul in this text because Stephen sold the first gospel seed in his life.

Speaker 2:

I know that Jesus met him. The risen Christ met him on the road to Damascus, but this was the first seed that was sown. How powerful, how powerful. Stephen gave his life so that Paul could hear the gospel and, through Christ, change the world. You may not understand why you go through suffering, but if you're a Christian, there's always a purpose, and Stephen did not doubt God. He gladly gave it all for the sake of Christ, because a real follower of Jesus is willing to lose everything for the sake of gaining Christ.

Speaker 2:

If you're here and you're not a Christian, maybe you're cut to the heart today by this message and you want to know more about this Jesus that I'm preaching. I would ask you today to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Don't grip your hands on the seat and fight what God's doing. We're about to have an altar call that we will pray for you and help you to know Christ. If you're here and you are a Christian, I want you to do two words of encouragement. One I want you to evaluate your life. Ask yourself this morning am I willing to give up everything for Christ. Let me ask you this If Jesus calls you to be a missionary, are you going to quit your job and lose financial security and move to a third world country to follow Christ? If you lose friends and family because of your commitment to times, but if you're like one of the 70 who just in February, were approached by Muslim militant group and every one of them all 70, their heads sawed off because of their faith, are you still going to stand firm for Christ and say Lord, here I am.

Speaker 2:

I heard a story from a pastor. His name is Kyle Eidelman. He's one of the pastors at Southeast Christian in Louisville and he told a story of when he was on a mission trip and I don't remember the country where he was at, but Kyle was able to share the gospel with a group of Muslim men. God did a work in their hearts and they received the gospel and they repented and they received the Lord Jesus Christ. That night the men were going to go home and then that night they were to come back to be baptized. The men were going to go home and then that night they were to come back to be baptized.

Speaker 2:

And so Kyle Eidelman is ecstatic and rejoicing and he shows up for these men to be baptized and he expected them, when they came, that they would have. He expected them to have family with them, friends with them, supporting them, but they came with nobody. What they did have? They each had a bag of luggage with them and he looked at them and he said why? Why are you bringing luggage to your baptism? It just takes a moment. They looked at him with tear-filled eyes and said because for me to be baptized is to be kicked out of my family, to be excommunicated and to lose it all. But I want to go under the water because I'll lose everything. For the sake of Jesus, may we, by God's grace, grace, persevere to the end and one day, like Stephen here. Well done, good faithful servant.