ACTS CHAPTER 6:8-7:60,
“Stephen, The First Martyr”
by
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our study today we will
again look at another first in the book of Acts, this time it is the first
martyr of the church Stephen.
1.2.
As we saw earlier in this
study Stephen was one of the seven deacons chosen to serve food to the widows
in the church in
1.3.
We will see how because of
Stephen’s being faithful in the small things that the Lord began to use him in
great ways, as the Lord performed wonders and signs through him.
1.4.
In this study we will see
how that when Stephen is arrested and dragged before the Sanhedrin because of
his preaching of the gospel, that he makes an incredible defense for himself
which basically just tells the people was that they were just like their
forefathers in rejecting and murdering Jesus because their forefathers killed
and persecuted all of the prophets sent to them.
1.5.
Stephen then has a vision of
heaven and of Jesus at the right hand of God, and the people are cut to the
quick and stone him to death.
1.6.
We will see how that
Stephen’s stoning had an impact on the man Saul who one day would be converted
and become the apostle Paul.
1.7.
It is important for the
church to remember her faithful martyrs and to venerate them, for their
faithfulness unto death which sets an example that is unparalleled among all
except for the Lord Jesus Himself who gave His all on
1.7.1.
Truly there are some men and
women of whom it can be said that this world was not worthy of them (Hebrews
11:38). Stephen stands out as one of
these.
1.7.2.
It was said of the Christian
martyrs of the first three hundred years of the church that, “the blood of the
martyrs was the seed of the church”, for each one who laid down his life
because of serving Christ was used to win many multitudes more to faith in Him.
2.
VS 6:8 - “8 And Stephen, full of grace and power,
was performing great wonders and signs among the people.” (NASB)
- God was doing great wonders through
the life of Stephen, one of the seven deacons
2.1.
Stephen was a
faithful man, and as a result of displaying his faithfulness in small things,
he is said by Luke to have been,
2.1.1.
‘full of
grace and power’
2.1.2.
he ‘was
performing great wonders and signs among the people’.
2.2.
Note that
this is the first instance of a person other than one of the apostles who was
performing signs and wonders among the people.
3.
VS 6:9-14 - “9 But some men from what was called the
Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some
from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10 And yet they were
unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11
Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous
words against Moses and against God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the
elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and dragged him away, and
brought him before the Council. 13 And they put forward false witnesses who
said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place, and the Law; 14 for
we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and
alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”” (NASB) - Men from the Synagogue of the Freedmen
secretly induced men as lying witnesses to say that Stephen was blaspheming
Moses and God
3.1.
The devil
tries to stop God’s work in God’s people’s
lives first by providing persecution of them from without, and then if
that is unsuccessful, he tries to infiltrate and join them so that he can cause
strife within.
3.1.1.
In the case
of Stephen they are persecuting from without, for we see that the Jews did the
same thing with him that they did with Jesus in bringing forth false witnesses
who were secretly induced to testify lies concerning him to the people.
3.2.
The false
accusations brought against Stephen of supposed things that he had said were
the following:
3.2.1.
‘blasphemous
words against Moses and against God’
3.2.2.
‘incessantly
speaks against this holy place, and the Law’
3.2.3.
‘that
this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses
handed down to us’
3.3.
Nothing could
be farther from the truth concerning this godly man, Stephen.
3.3.1.
He had said
nothing against Moses and the law, nor had he blasphemed God, for he was a
faithful and righteous brother in Christ.
3.3.2.
They
misquoted Stephen concerning Jesus saying that He would, destroy this place and
alter the customs which Moses handed down to us’.
3.3.2.1.The temple was destroyed in 70AD by the Romans, of
which Jesus predicted, however Jesus Himself had not destroyed it and did not
say He would destroy it.
3.3.2.2.Jesus did not ‘alter the customs which Moses handed
down to’ them, but rather He fulfilled those customs and revealed concretely
that to which they pointed to, which did have the effect of nullifying
them. However, Stephen cannot be faulted
for this was a sovereign work of God which His own Word had prophetically
revealed would take place.
4.
VS 6:15 - “15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who
were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.”
(NASB) - The people see the face of
Stephen transformed by God’s glory to look like the face of an angel
4.1.
Stephen did
not strike back nor lash out at the people that were falsely accusing him in
this grievous way.
4.1.1.
Instead, we
see him gazing up into heaven and having a prophetic vision of the Lord
Jesus.
4.1.2.
Stephen’s
mere countenance glowing in the Shekinah glory of God enraged those men who
were attempting with all of their might to stamp out God’s light and truth of
revelation of the gospel of God’s only begotten Son.
5.
VS 7:1 - “1 And the high priest said, “Are these
things so?”” (NASB) - The
high priest asks Stephen if the accusations against him are true
5.1.
The High
Priest, acting as president of the Sanhedrin, questioned Stephen as to the
truth of the accusations that were being brought against him.
5.2.
These men
were not interested in hearing or investigating the truth, they just wanted to
silence Stephen and the apostles any way that they could.
5.3.
As we saw
from chapter 6 (above), all of the accusations against Stephen were either half
truths or complete lies.
5.4.
It is
incredible in this chapter, which details Stephen’s defense to the Sanhedrin,
how articulate he was and how that the Holy Spirit came upon him and gave him
in an instant the very words that he was to say.
5.4.1.
Seeing how
that God put the words in Stephen’s mouth as he was being persecuted here ought
to give us believers today encouragement that the Lord will also fill our mouth
to speak for Him when we encounter times of persecution for our faith.
5.5.
We also know
that as is recorded later in this chapter that Saul, the man who would one day
become the apostle Paul, was in attendance at this hearing and actually held
the cloaks of the men who stoned Stephen.
5.5.1.
Paul seemed
obsessed with this incident the rest of his life, and in fact this testimony of
Stephen was surely one of the major seeds that the Lord planted in his life
that eventually grew until he came to salvation.
5.6.
Stephen was a
man like the apostle Paul, who could also say, “For to me, to live is
Christ, and to die is gain”, Phil 1:21.
5.7.
This argument
of Stephen’s seems circumlocutious, however Stephen is building the point that
the Israelites might have been God’s people by physically being descendants of
the patriarchs, however they were constantly rebelling against God and not
walking in faith in Him.
5.7.1.
The
Israelites had killed all of the prophets whom the Lord had sent to them, and
now in their treatment of Jesus and of Stephen, they were acting just as their
forefathers had acted who had killed and persecuted all of the prophets whom
the Lord had sent to them.
5.7.2.
Stephen’s
defense to their accusations cut their pride to the quick, and these men
decided to murder Stephen as a result of hearing it.
5.8.
Some of the indictments made by Stephen against the
nation of
5.8.1.
They had
always rebelled against the Lord and resisted the Holy Spirit
5.8.2.
They had
never walked in faith
5.8.3.
They had
killed all of the prophets sent to them
5.8.4.
They had
always been idolaters
5.8.5.
They had not
listened to their venerated Patriarchs’ words (such as Moses who had prophesied
about the Messiah to come)
5.8.6.
They had
tried to put God in a box and claim they had a franchise on Him
5.8.7.
They had been
given the law, but had never kept it
5.8.8.
The
sacrifices which the Israelites had offered had not been accepted by the Lord
(the people had not from their hearts sacrificed to the Lord)
5.8.9.
They had not
only murdered all of the prophets sent to them, they had murdered their own
Messiah, and he doesn’t say this directly but implies that now they were in the
same way attempting to murder him
This
defense of Stephen also reveals to us the constant failing of all men, since
all men have sin natures, as do the Israelites.
We all are depraved and in total need of God’s grace in our lives in
order for us to follow Him and live the godly lifestyle which He wants us to
walk in.
5.9.
In Stephen’s
defense, we see that he speaks nothing of or for himself concerning the
accusations that had been brought against him.
5.9.1.
He was
totally engrossed in seeing what was enfolding in front of Him from the
perspective of how the Lord viewed the hearts of these wicked men.
5.9.2.
His defense
is not a defense of himself in any way at all, rather it is really an
“apologetic” (or defense) for the Lord, as well as a judgment pronounced
against the nation of Israel who had rejected and murdered her Messiah.
5.9.2.1.The Lord did judge
5.9.2.2.In Romans 9, the apostle quoted from Isaiah
10 concerning those whom were the ‘remnant’ or ‘true’ people of God, i.e.
those who will be spending eternity with Him as His chosen people, “27 And
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be
as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; 28 for the Lord
will execute His word upon the earth, thoroughly and quickly.” 29 And just as Isaiah foretold, “Except the
Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, We would have become as
5.10.
In Stephen’s
defense of himself, as he is speaking via inspiration of the Holy Spirit we
learn some facts from the Old Testament which we would not know about
otherwise, and so it is good to study carefully this defense.
5.11.
As we in the
church today see the constant failings of the Israelites to follow the Lord, we
must learn from those and make sure that we do not do the same things as they
did. In 1 Cor. 10, the apostle
Paul exhorted the people to learn from the bad examples of the Israelites who
constantly rebelled and sinned against the Lord, “6 Now these things
happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also
craved. 7 And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The
people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” 8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them
did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9 Nor let us try the Lord, as
some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some
of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened
to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the
ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed
lest he fall.” (NASB)
5.12.
Through
Steven’s defense as well as his whole demeanor, even unto his humble and quiet
death of martyrdom for His Lord, he showed that he was a man who truly lived
for the things that are eternal, not for the things of this world.
5.12.1.He walked by faith not by sight, and he was convinced
that death, should it occur, would only be for the better as he would be
immediately in his Lord’s presence.
5.12.2.Stephen truly lived as Jesus taught men to live, in
that he “feared God” who had the power not only to kill but also to cast into
hell, and, he did not ‘fear those who only could only kill the body”.
5.12.3.Stephen’s death is a credential of Christianity, a
proof of its existence, as he was willing to be obedient to God even unto death
if necessary.
5.13. In application, we may not have to prove in the same
way that Stephen proved that he lived for the things that are eternal (by being
stoned as a martyr), however can we not show by the choices we make in times of
temptation and testing that we too are living for eternal things?
5.13.1.Can we not show that we are truly obedient unto God
and walking in faith through how we make the best use of our time each day,
making the right things have priority in our life?
5.13.2.Can we not show that we live for the eternal things by
the seriousness with which we take our daily walk with God?
6.
VS 7:2 - “2 And he said, “Hear me, brethren and
fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in
Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,” (NASB) – Stephen asks his confronters and all of the
men to listen to his defense of himself
6.1.
Stephen
begins his defense by showing proper respect for those to whom he is speaking,
and thus he acknowledges them as ‘brethren and fathers’:
6.1.1. To those who are his peers in age, he addresses them
‘brethren’
6.2.
To those
who are older he addresses them as ‘fathers’.
6.2.1. We Christians must always remember to acknowledge
people whom we are interested in reaching for Christ with proper respect. We must never talk down to people in any way
or belittle them, even if we must in love give them a form of rebuke.
6.3.
Stephen
begins his defense by causing the council to remember the first man after the
flood with whom God made a covenant, the patriarch Abraham. Stephen tells us something that the Old
Testament had not yet revealed to us, that the Lord had ‘appeared to Abraham’
in Mesopotamia before he had left his family and moved to
7.
VS
7:3-8 - “3 and said to him, ‘Depart
from your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show
you.’ 4 “Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and settled in
7.1.
Stephen
recalls the history from the book of Genesis of God’s calling and dealing with
Abraham in order to cause the hearers of his message to remember what God’s
word says about this and especially to set up for the people the story of how
that the Israelites rebelled and turned away from the Lord.
8.
VS
7:8-10 - “8 “And He gave him the
covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and
circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and
Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 9 “And the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph
and sold him into
8.1.
In these
three verses, Stephen begins to tell the story of how Joseph’s brothers
rebelled and sinned against the Lord and sold their brother into slavery.
9.
VS
7:11-16 - “11 “Now a famine came over
all
9.1.
In this
section, Stephen recalls the story of how the Lord moved His people into the
10.
VS
7:17-21 - “17 “But as the time of the
promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased
and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until there arose another king over Egypt who knew
nothing about Joseph. 19 “It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race, and
mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would
not survive. 20 “And it was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely
in the sight of God; and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. 21
“And after he had been exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away, and nurtured
him as her own son.”” (NASB) -
Stephen recalls the mistreatment of the Israelites in
10.1. In these verses, Stephen recalls how that the
Israelites increased in number and then began to be mistreated by another
Pharaoh who did not know Joseph and the promises made to the Israelites by the
original Pharaoh.
11.
VS
7:22 - “22 “And Moses was educated in
all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.””
(NASB) - Stephen recalls some of Moses
credentials
11.1. It is an interesting revelation made by Stephen that Moses
was a man that was not only powerful in deeds, but also in ‘words’. Moses’ complaint to the Lord when He called
him to deliver His people was that he was not a man who was eloquent of speech. However, by God’s strength Moses grew in his
power of speech.
11.1.1.If Moses was able to get over his inabilities in
speech and lead the Israelites, then we Christians ought to step out in faith
and share our faith to the lost, then the Lord can make us powerful in speech
as He did with Moses, even if by nature we are shy or not skilled in
dissertation.
12.
VS
7:23-24 - “23 “But when he was
approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the
sons of
12.1. Stephen points out something that is interesting in
these two verses, namely that Moses seems to have been stirred up by God while
serving in Pharaoh’s court, thus Stephen says ‘it entered his mind’ to see the
condition of his brethren. As a result
of seeing the injustice being done by the wicked Egyptian taskmasters, Moses
had to take action and do something about their situation. What he did was to kill an Egyptian soldier
who was mistreating and Israelite.
12.2. Whenever we see the horrible conditions of this world
and the depth of people’s spiritual need who have turned away from the Lord,
then though we know that some action or
ministry needs to take place, we must wait upon the Lord to lead us if He wants
to use us to minister to that need, and not just jump in and do something in
the flesh as Moses did and ended up killing the Egyptian who was oppressing one
of his people.
13.
VS
7:25 - “25 “And he supposed that his
brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him; but
they did not understand.”” (NASB) -
Stephen recalls that Moses was disillusioned when his own people did not
recognize his calling over them
13.1. Stephen mentions something that is interesting in this
verse, namely that Moses felt that the Lord was leading him to be the agent to
grant deliverance for his people from the Egyptians.
13.2. Moses thought that the Israelites themselves would understand
that he was sent to deliver them, but they didn’t.
14.
VS
7:26-29 - “26 “And on the following
day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to
reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one
another?’ 27 “But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away,
saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 ‘You do not mean to kill me
as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ 29 “And at this remark Moses
fled, and became an alien in the
14.1. In these four verses, Stephen recalls how that Moses
had to flee to the
15.
VS
7:30-34 - “30 “And after forty years
had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of
15.1. In these five verses, Stephen recalls how that the
Lord called Moses after 40 years in the wilderness to deliver His people from
the Egyptians.
15.1.1.I hope that unlike Moses I shall never need God’s
discipline so badly that I have to spend 40 years in the desert before God can
teach me what He wants to teach me so that He can now use me.
15.1.2.However, this group of the Sanhedrin were so filled
with pride in their heritage of being God’s people that they could not look
objectively at the fact that the Israelites were constantly in rebellion
against the Lord during all of their history.
16.
VS
7:35 - “35 “This Moses whom they
disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent
to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to
him in the thorn bush.”” (NASB) -
Stephen recalls how that the Israelites ‘disowned’ Moses, the one who
God raised up and appointed as their ruler and deliverer
16.1. Stephen makes the point in this verse that the
Israelites ‘disowned’ Moses, the one whom the Lord had sent to be their
deliverer, for when Moses appeared the people did not accept him as their
leader and deliverer except after much divine coaxing.
16.1.1.The Israelites ‘disowned’ Moses in the same way the
people of Stephen’s day had ‘disowned’ Jesus the Christ, whom the Lord had now
sent to be the deliverer of His people, the Israelites.
17.
VS
7:36-38 - “36 “This man led them out,
performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the
wilderness for forty years. 37 “This is the Moses who said to the sons of
17.1. Stephen points out in these verses that the same
Moses, whom with the Lord’s help performed such wonders and signs in the
17.1.1.Stephen points out to the council that the very Moses
whom they held such allegiance to foretold Jesus coming to deliver God’s
people.
18.
VS
7:39-42 - “39 “And our fathers were
unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned
back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for
this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to
him.’ 41 “And at that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol,
and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 “But God turned away and
delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of
the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty
years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?”” (NASB) - Stephen recalls how that the people were
constantly rebelling against Moses and going after other gods
18.1. Stephen begins to make the strong point about how that
these people of God were unwilling to be obedient to the Lord and His servant
Moses, and they had even ‘repudiated’ the Lord and Moses.
18.2. Stephen points out how quick the people were to create
their own ‘gods’ as they created the ‘golden calf’ in order to sacrifice to it
after Moses had only disappeared for a short while.
18.2.1.The very people that the council venerated so greatly,
their forefathers, were really for the most part idolaters in their hearts.
18.3. Stephen even makes the point that the people were so
prone to iniquity that ‘God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host
of heaven’, so i.e. God gave them over to a reprobate mind, as Paul says in
Romans 1 that the Lord does to men who refuse to honor and glorify Him as God.
18.4. Stephen quotes from Amos 5:25, as that prophet
relayed the word of the Lord to the Israelites that in the 40 years of
wandering in the wilderness that the people did not serve the Lord in their
hearts, and their sacrifices were not really given to Him, for their hearts
were not in tune with Him at all. Amos
5:25-26 points out how that the Israelites never really got rid of their
idols during that whole period of wandering in the wilderness, “25 “Did
you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty
years, O house of Israel? 26 “You also carried along Sikkuth your king and
Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves””.
18.5. We Christians need to ask ourselves whether or not we
have truly gotten rid of all of the idols that are in our lives, or whether we
are not just like the Israelites were?
18.5.1.Are we submissive to those whom the Lord places over
our lives as authorities, both within the church and without?
18.5.2.Are we holding back from surrendering anything to the
Lord that He wants us to part with?
18.5.3.Is there anything hindering our service or our
testimony for the Lord?
18.5.4.If so, we need to bring those areas of our life to the
cross and die to them.
19.
VS
7:43 - “43 ‘You also took along the
tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made
to worship them. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’” (NASB) -
Stephen recalls that the Israelites kept idols and idol worship
paraphernalia
19.1. Stephen reveals something here in this verse about the
Israelites which was previously not
revealed: The Israelites brought along
with them through the wilderness, ‘the tabernacle of Moloch’, in whose pagan
worship their was human sacrifice, and ‘the god of Rompha’.
19.2. This verse reveals how that the Israelites persisted
in idolatry despite constant judgments and warnings by the Lord.
19.3. Stephen here says that as a result of their continuous
idolatry, that the Lord would remove them on the other side of
19.3.1.Could this judgment pronounced against
20.
VS
7:44-49 - “44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony
in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it
according to the pattern which he had seen. 45 “And having received it in their
turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom
God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. 46 “And David found
favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God
of Jacob. 47 “But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. 48 “However, the
Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet
says: 49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth
is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says
the Lord; ‘Or what place is there for My repose? 50 ‘Was it not My hand which made all these
things?’”” (NASB) - Stephen recalls how that the fathers made a
tabernacle and later a temple for the Lord, however God does not dwell in
structures made by human hands
20.1. In these verses, Stephen points out that though the
Lord directed the Israelites to build a tabernacle and then a temple for Him to
dwell in, still the Lord Himself does not dwell in ‘houses made by human
hands”.
20.1.1.In other words, though the Lord chose to live among
men in the tabernacle and temple which He commanded to be built for Himself,
man cannot box God in or have a franchise on Him.
20.1.1.1.He is God almighty, and He will dwell among men only
upon His terms and when men meet the conditions which He sets for them.
20.1.1.2.We can come to know God for He has made a way to do
that, however there is just one way to God, Jesus Christ, there are not many paths
up the mountain as people say.
20.1.2.The Israelites thought that since they were God’s
people by birth they would always be God’s people, however only those who truly
serve Him upon His terms and in obedience are the “remnant” which He chooses to
save, and with whom He chooses to dwell.
20.2. Just as the Jews thought that they had a franchise on
God because they were born as Israelites, so we too in the church today need to
realize that it is only as we obey and follow God’s leading, that we will have
His blessing in our lives. It does not
matter what our particular denomination is or even if we are ‘Calvary Chapel’
by name, it is only that as we are truly following the Lord that we shall have
His blessing and power in our lives and ministry.
20.3. I read a book many years ago by a man named Ian
Thomas, and in the book he taught this principle, “If you do God’s will
God’s way you will never lack God’s blessing”. In the Old Testament we see that there were
really two different kinds of people of those who claimed to be God’s
people. There were those who did God’s
will but did it their own way, and there were those who did God’s will God’s
way, heeding all of His word in the things that they did in their life. Those who did God’s will God’s way always
were blessed by God and won battles, conquered nations, and prospered in the
ways of God. However, all of those who
did God’s will yet did it their own way were never blessed by God, suffered the
curses of His covenant, and ended up going from bad to worse throughout their
life.
20.3.1.King Saul was that way. He was a man who was chosen by God and
accepted by the people to be the first king over
21.
VS
7:51-53 - “51 “You men who are
stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy
Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52 “Which one of the prophets
did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously
announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you
have now become; 53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did
not keep it.”” (NASB) - Stephen tells the people that they are
‘stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hears and ears and always resisting the Holy
Spirit, and that they are doing right then the very things that their fathers
did
21.1. All of the sermons which have been preached by the
church so far in the book of Acts have been interrupted or cut short for some
reason, and this defense of Stephen is no exception: Very suddenly Stephen makes his point that
he has been building to in this lengthy and wandering defense, and then at the
end of his extremely brief conclusion, the Jews then stone him to death.
21.2. Stephen tells these Israelites who are so proud of
their Israelite history that they are in fact doing just as their forefathers
had done.
21.2.1.Their forefathers ‘killed those prophets who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous
One’, and they in turn had just done the same with Jesus which he tells them
‘whose betrayers and murderers you have now become’.
21.2.2.Just as the Israelites of old, they were ‘stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears’ and ‘always resisting the Holy
Spirit’.
21.2.3.To bring further conviction upon these Jews, Stephen
reminds them that though God had given to them His holy law, yet they had never
obeyed it.
22.
VS
7:54-56 - “54 Now when they heard
this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the
glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said,
“Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God.”” (NASB) - The Jews were cut to the quick upon hearing
Stephen’s words of condemnation upon them for their sins, and as they looked on
Stephen he had a vision of heaven and of Jesus standing at the right hand of God
22.1. This group of the council were ‘cut to the quick’
because of the conviction of their sin, however rather than repent and ask God
for forgiveness, instead they began to angrily gnash their teeth at him.
22.1.1.We can only imagine what names or insults they might
have yelled at Stephen at this time.
22.1.2.What was the final breaking point for this group?
22.1.2.1.Was the countenance of Stephen itself?
22.1.2.2.Was it the description of the vision which Stephen saw
as he was filled with God’s love and peace and gazed into heaven itself seeing
the Lord Jesus ‘standing at the right hand of God’.
22.1.2.2.1.No one else saw the vision that Stephen saw.
22.2. Stephen trusted himself totally to God as he was
standing before this council. He had a
message to deliver to these men, and he was not afraid of the fallout from
speaking out in this way.
22.2.1.We Christians today need to learn from the example of
Stephen and not deal with situations in the flesh, but rather trust God
completely with our lives.
22.2.2.We don’t need to strike back in the flesh, but rather we
are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
22.2.3.We also need to trust God for the same type of
boldness which Stephen had on this day.
23.
VS
57-58 - “57 But they cried out with a
loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse.
58 And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and
the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”
(NASB) – The people drove Stephen out of
the city and stoned him to death
23.1. The council of the Sanhedrin could not handle Stephen
and his countenance any further, and in a total outrage they took him outside
of their city and began stoning him, and thus Stephen became the first
Christian martyr.
23.2. It is significant that Luke notes that the men stoning
Stephen were laying their robes down at the feet of a man named Saul. Paul (his God-given name) later writes in his
epistles that at this time he was giving hearty approval to what these men were
doing.
23.2.1.The witness of Stephen planted a seed in the life of
Paul which eventually matured with his becoming a Christian.
23.2.1.1.The haunting memory of Stephen and his powerful and
godly testimony before this group was probably the “goads” which Jesus referred
to when He appeared to Paul, and said that it was hard with him kicking against
the goads.
24.
VS
7:59-60 - “59 And they went on
stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit!” 60 And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do
not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.”
(NASB) - Stephen falls asleep in the
Lord
24.1. In his dying, Stephen was very much like his master
dying upon the cross.
24.1.1.In the same manner as Jesus did in his dying, Stephen
said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’.
24.1.2.Stephen asked that the Lord to, ‘not hold this sin
against them!’
24.2. Stephen’s testimony stands to all generations as an
example for all Christians to follow. So
then, what are the lessons we can learn from Stephen and how he handled his martyrdom?
24.2.1.If we commit our lives totally to the Lord as Stephen
did, then we can also endure and triumph in our hour of testing and trials as
Stephen did.
24.2.2.If we live our life in faith, trusting the Lord with
every situation, then we will likewise be able to be the tremendous witness for
Christ that Stephen was.
24.2.3.There is nothing too hard for the Lord, and if we will
look to Him for all of our strength every day, then we too can be spiritual men
as was Stephen.
24.2.4.Stephen was simply a man who learned to be faithful in
the little things, as one of the first deacons, and yet because of his
faithfulness in the little things the Lord used him in a tremendously powerful
way.