Jesus Christ in His Church..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Brothers and sisters, we've been working our way through the wonderful book of Acts and tracing the work of our now resurrected Savior in building his spiritual kingdom by his spirit and in his word. And he's doing it through the means of the church, his body, his bride.

Now, of course, we've seen this unfolding through the ministry of the 12 disciples, the men handpicked taught, empowered, and commissioned by our Lord to be sent as his witnesses to begin the worldwide mission of building up the kingdom of God, a kingdom that will span from Jerusalem, we're told back in Acts chapter 1, to Judea and Samaria, and then to the outermost parts of the world. And so we've already together seen the early stages of that mission unfolding. In fact, we're now in chapter seven. So if you have your Bibles, let's open them up to Acts chapter seven, and we'll get ready for reading that chapter. But we'll see very quickly that the church in the early church is still in Jerusalem.

Now, no one can doubt that mighty work has been done in this city. We've seen that already in the first six chapters, and we'll continue to see that. even right now on the seventh because the church goes from being 120 in number when our Lord ascended into heaven to over 3,000 only 10 days later when he outpoured his promised Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. From there, we've seen that within months, maybe even weeks, we're told in chapter five, that the number had risen to 5,000 men alone. So it's quite realistic at this point in time here in the context of chapter seven, it's quite realistic that the church in Jerusalem is at least 10,000 strong, maybe even double that amount.

But brothers and sisters, our Lord has already foretold that his gospel will advance beyond the city of Jerusalem, where the church seems to be for the time being at least. He said he would start to build his kingdom in Jerusalem. but his kingship must reach beyond Jerusalem and therefore his witness or his witnesses will proclaim the good news to the end of the earth. And beloved, it's in this chapter, chapter seven, that is the pivotal point in the book of Acts to be able to see that the mission of Christ, the mission of the church, will now be expanding further in an ever-widening geographical circle until it reaches, as our Lord Jesus said and foretold to the disciples, the ends of the earth. The whole globe will be reached by the gospel.

But it's not with a gentle nudge that this happens. Oh, no, no, it's not with it. We're not with a gentle nudge. It comes off the back of some very heavy, violent persecution from the hands of the Jews upon the whole church. Persecution from the Jews that has not been seen until now.

And that persecution arrives off the back of the speech that is before us here in chapter 7. A speech spoken by the spirit-filled mouth of a man by the name of Stephen, a Hellenist. This is a Greek-speaking Jewish deacon who was introduced to us by Luke in the previous chapter, chapter 6, if you remember when the church was asked to appoint deacons. Beloved brothers and sisters, this is the longest speech in the book of Acts. In fact, this is the longest chapter in the book.

So much attention must be given to its content. Now, having said that, all the Bible is important. We should give it all much attention. But if Luke has dedicated so much ink to this chapter, then it must be incredibly important to the thrust of where he's taking us in the book of Acts. And so we've committed on from the onset, at least when we started this series that we will be teaching one chapter per week.

And in having said that, it's not possible. It's not possible to teach on Acts chapter seven and plumb the very depth into the richness of this passage in the space of one hour. But by God's grace, I hope we'll be at least be able to meditate upon the major themes in this spirit inspired speech. So there'll be a lot left on the table because we cannot explore the whole chapter. but I hope that we'll be able to at least see the thrust of the argument, the thrust of the sermon, and I trust and pray that we will be blessed accordingly.

Because as we'll see Luke doesn't include this speech simply because it's a good summary of Israel's history, although it is that, but much more. And he doesn't include it simply because he wants to give honor to Stephen, who, as far as we can tell, scripturally at least, is the first martyr of the New Testament church. No, it's neither of these things, but rather in the wonderful historical survey that is before us in Acts chapter 7, it shows us the absolute faithfulness of a promise-keeping God in his dealings with his people. faithfulness despite them being a stiff-necked people who have a long history of rejecting God and rejecting His chosen ones, His prophets, His mouthpieces that He's given throughout history. This sermon, beloved, exposes Israel's rebellion.

It exposes their idolatry. It exposes the state of their heart by revealing all their religious efforts. and all their institutions are meaningless without godly discernment. It shows that they are not just okay, they're not okay just because they are in the land called Israel. It shows us in this chapter that these Jews are not okay just because they have a temple.

It shows us that they're not okay just because they received the law. True religion goes beyond these things and they are blind to see it. Because the culmination of God's dealing with Israel from the very beginning and his blessed plan for his people was always purposed to find its fulfillment in the righteous one of God, to find its fulfillment in Messiah, to find its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, whom they did not recognize to be Messiah, but rather, but rather they did to him. what their fathers or their forefathers were guilty of doing to the prophets, the other prophets sent by God throughout history, and that is to reject him and put him to death. You see, Stephen's sermon is not simply a defense to get him off the hook with these religious leaders who have now captured him and are demanding an explanation.

Rather, Stephen's sermon is a courageous, full-scale indictment of the Jews to a long history of rebellion against the one they claim to be their God. And so as we read the text of chapter seven, we have to ask ourselves this question, who is actually on trial for the most heinous of sins? Is it Stephen? Or is it the unbelieving Jews? Let's open our Bibles to Acts chapter seven.

Now, normally I'll get us to read the whole chapter and then I'll explain it. But rather this time, what we'll do is we will end up reading the whole chapter, but we'll do it as I explain the chapter. So basically it'd be a walkthrough. So this sermon is long and it's significant. I'm talking about Stephen's sermon, and it could be best, in my view, to walk through section by section together, starting from verse one, and hopefully, by God's grace, we will see where he's taking the argument, and then we'll see the climactic end of his sermon.

Verse one, if you have your Bibles open, verse one, I'll just grab a couple more. Okay, verse one. And the high priest said, are these things so? The high priest, most likely Caiaphas, wanted to know if the charges Stephen or the charges against Stephen are true. But what were the charges?

Well, we'll need to go back and back track a little bit, back into chapter six, back over the ground where our brother explained so beautifully last week, that chapter six, in order for us to, well, firstly, to see the context of what's happening here, and also to be reminded once again of what exactly Stephen is being charged with. So if you have your eyes in chapter 7, your Bible's open, just look over the page now to chapter 6 from verse 8, and we'll be reading through to 15. So verse 8, chapter 6, verse 8 through 15. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians, and of the Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

10. 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 the holy place and the law.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel." So what do we have here? We have some of the Jews from the five local synagogues that were mentioned in that text. They've come to a serious disagreement with Stephen.

They weren't at all happy with his teaching. You see, we've already been told that Stephen was a man filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. And to be filled with the Spirit, according to Ephesians chapter five and Colossians chapter three, is to have the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Stephen was a man who was intimate in knowledge with the words of Jesus Christ, and it dwelt in him richly. He was filled with the Spirit, filled with understanding of the Scripture.

He not only understood the facts and the details of Scripture, which is what a lot of the Jews did know in these days, but also he also understood, because the Spirit had enlightened his heart, how Scripture is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And so his defense to these Jews was absolutely saturated with scripture, as we'll see, but he'll give the true spiritual meaning of history. In other words, he'll speak scripture to these people and the council, the Sanhedrin, the 71 members would have no doubt known scripture. They memorized for the most part, probably the Pentateuch, a lot of them had memorized a big portion of scripture. They knew what Stephen, was referring to, but Stephen would give them now in his speech, the true spiritual meaning of the scripture.

He'll tell them why it's there and who it was pointing to. But to those who did not recognize Christ as Messiah, Well, they would have the same bone to pick with Stephen as far as the Jews were concerned in Acts, or who we've seen in Acts already, the Jews who have been against Christ and his church in the book so far. And so the Jews of the synagogue would have had the same problems with Stephen. They wouldn't recognize that this Jesus is the Messiah. That's the main thing.

You remember when the Jews caught the apostles, Peter and John initially, and then the apostles, they sent them away and threatened them and said, don't speak of this Jesus or in his name. You see, this Jesus was hindering their practices. He was an obstacle in their way. He was a hindrance as far as they're concerned because that would mean they would have to change their practices if indeed this Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So how do they respond?

to the wisdom and the truth coming out of Stephen's mouth. How did these Jews from the synagogue's response? Well, they were told they could not withstand his wisdom. In other words, their arguments against Christ were completely decimated by Stephen. He knew the truth.

The word abided in him, and they could not refute his words, but in the hardness of their hearts, rather than submit to the truth, they do just as the Jews did with our Lord, who hated him without a cause." What do they do? Verse 11 tells us, they instigate men to accuse him of blasphemy. and they made quite a stir of it. You see, the people were told, the elders and the scribes heard of this and they seized Stephen and they brought him before the council.

That's the Sanhedrin, and we've explained that would be likened to the Supreme Court of the Jewish establishment or the Jewish people in those days. It's the third time so far in the book of Acts. In the first seven chapters, it's the third time that the Christians are brought before this council. You see, the hostility of the Jews is increasing. And they're getting more and more angry with the Christians because they are teaching this Jesus.

They are teaching of the way, which is the way to eternal life is found only in this Jesus Christ, the Messiah sent by God. The first time the Christians went before the council, if you remember, it was back in chapter 4, it was Peter and John, and they got a warning that time. Now, the second time was found in chapter 5. It was the apostles and they'd received a beating, and then they'll let go. Now it's the third time.

And the third time, it's as we know, Stephen was presented before the 71 ruling members of the Sanhedrin. And this time it will end with the death of this man by stoning. You see, the Jews were laying a series of very serious charges against Spirit-filled man, Stephen. four in fact, four serious charges. According to the verses that we just read from verses from chapter 6 verses 8 through 15, the instigators are charging him with blasphemy against God, that's one, blasphemy against Moses, That's two.

And speaking against the law, that's three. And speaking against the holy place, that is the temple. That's four. Basically charging him of overthrowing the whole of the Jews' religion. You see these four were, as far as the Jews concerned, core tenets of their faith.

And so the charges laid against Stephen are charges that are concerned with the whole of their religion that spans back to their father. the father of Israel himself, Abraham. And so that's where Stephen begins his defense in refuting the fallacious claims. So now here in chapter seven, Stephen will address these very serious charges by surveying the Old Testament with incredible insight and understanding. Mind you, that is understanding given to him by the Holy Spirit.

One might ask, why does he summarize the Old Testament to the people who probably all know it by heart? Well, after he proves one by one that all the charges laid against him are in fact all false, and he does this according to scripture, and you'll find that there's no merit in their accusations against him, he'll then turn around to the Jews and he'll indict them. But he'll indict them not with his own words, but with the words of Scripture. You see, Stephen's concern is not to exonerate himself. It's not to make himself righteous before these Jews.

His concern is to be faithful to Christ his Lord. So he warns the Jews of their rebellion against God, this long list of rebellion of their forefathers and now their rebellion against God by preaching truth from scripture. It'll end badly for Stephen. We all know the story of this martyr. It ends badly for him.

But beloved, I want you to hear this. A faithful sermon is not determined by how the people receive it. It's determined by its fidelity, that's its faithfulness, and consistency with the word of Jesus Christ. And so after Stephen refutes the charges laid against him, he'll turn the tables back to the Jewish religious leaders to show that it is they who are guilty of these charges. The final straw being their rejection and murder of the righteous one who was sent by God, and that is Jesus Christ.

Now the structure of chapter seven is roughly outlined for us as follows. Verse one through 16, it's the patriarchs who are in view. And it's here in these verses that Stephen refutes the charge of blasphemy against God, the charge that they said he blasphemed against God. It's in those first verses from one through 16 that Stephen refutes that. Verse 17 through 43 is a big portion and that section is about Moses and the law.

Stephen in this section breaks down the charge of blasphemy against Moses and against the law. Then we have verses 44 through 50, and these verses have the tabernacle and the temple in view. And it's this section that I believe Stephen repudiates the charge against him of speaking against the holy place of God, which is indeed the temple that is in view. And then finally, from verses 51 through 60, we see a final indictment upon the Jews. But then we see their reaction of rage, and that reaction results in their stoning of Stephen.

It's in the last section of chapter seven that Stephen no longer considers himself on trial, beloved. Because in verses 51 through 60, after annihilating completely their arguments, he turns, he turns, into a prosecuting attorney, if you will, and he lays the charges at the feet of the Jews. Now, my purpose this evening and the short amount of time that we have together in our study is to follow the text as we have it in our Bible. So we'll walk through chapter, verse by verse, or section by section rather. And as I said earlier, it will be a brief summary of the major themes as we are limited for time and what we can do in the time that we have together.

And so next week, by the grace of God, we'll consider the consequences of what transpires in this passage and the significance it has on the rest of the early Jerusalem church as we explore and meditate upon chapter eight next week. Let's read the first eight verses of this chapter. If you have your Bibles, it's in Acts chapter seven. Let's read the first eight verses. Brothers and fathers, hear me.

The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran three and said to him, go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into the land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect, that his offspring would be sojourners in the land belonging to others who would enslave them and afflict them for 400 years, but I will judge the nation that they serve.

And God then said, God, and after that they shall. come out and worship me in this place. And he gave them 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 12 patriarchs.

Now I want you to realize that the first words Stephen begins with are, brothers and fathers, hear me, hear this, the God of glory appeared to our father, Abraham. You see, one of the charges and indeed the most heinous and the worst of the charges against Stephen was that he was blaspheming God. But from the onset, Stephen is saying, That's certainly not true. A blasphemer brings disrepute and dishonor and reviles God and His name. But Stephen here, and the multiple times he uses God, God's name, at least in the sermon and his speech, it's always only used with the highest respect and honor.

God of glory, he calls Him. You see, God's glory is seen through all His manifestations. And beloved, for the most part, for these people, those manifestations of the glory of God are all found in Scripture. So, Stephen is saying, I believe in this God. He is a glorious God.

And He's the God who made Himself known in Scripture. And according to Scripture, He is indeed glorious. You see, he's exalting God. He's not reviling him. As they've been accusing him of reviling God and blasphemy.

But there's no merit to that. Then he goes on to say that this God of glory, the only true God, reveals himself to our father, Abraham. Realize, I want you to realize, it's our father, not your father. You see, he's affirming even though he's a Hellenistic Jew, that is a Greek-speaking Jew, that he is a Jew nonetheless and he shares a common origin with his Jewish heroes. the God of Scripture, the God who revealed Himself to Abraham centuries ago in His glory is also Stephen's God.

And He's also honored by Stephen. People of the Sanhedrin, if you say you honor this God of Abraham, I do, too. He's your God and He is mine. The words of wisdom that's shared with the Jews in the synagogue, those words that got Him into trouble could not be refuted because they were rooted or they were not rooted in a foreign deity. But the God of our father, Abraham, is your God, Stephen's saying, and he's my God.

The charges of blasphemy are without merit. But also I want you to realize, that God revealed himself to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia. That's what Stephen says. And it was there that he told him to leave that land and his kindred, to leave his land and kindred and go to a land I will show you. That's what the Lord says.

But what land? He hadn't seen any land and he had absolutely no idea where it was. Simply, God was saying, get up and go where I tell you, says the Lord. And what did Abraham do? Abraham obeyed.

Abraham obeyed, beloved. He didn't see the land. and then believe. He didn't even ask questions. How big is the land, God?

Is it fertile? Or does it have sea views? I need to see if it's worth my effort to make the journey. No, no, he simply trusted God. He believed his words and he walked by faith.

He left his kindred and he walked by faith. You know why he walked by faith, beloved? Well, it wasn't about the land in Palestine for Abraham. It never was about the land. It was about the God who he loved, the God who he trusted.

And as the relationship with that God grew over the years, his trust and his love grew more and more of this God, even when he was miles and miles away from the land. Yes, the Lord does take him and show him the land that he'll give to his offspring. And he makes a covenant with Abraham with the sign of circumcision that we read of even in this passage. But Abraham never took possession of the land that he was promised. Not even a foot length, we're told.

But the Lord said, his offspring after four centuries in slavery will inherit that land. And Abraham believed. But let's not forget how many miracles would need to happen even to get the process started. For starters, if his offspring is going to inherit this land then he would need to have or produce a child from his body, which we're told is as good as dead. And his wife, Sarah, well, she was barren.

So humanly speaking, this was an impossible thing, but with God, all things are possible. You see, Abraham was far from perfect, we know that. We've together read through the book of Genesis in our Lord's Day reading, and we've seen his errors, we've seen his shortcomings. my beloved, he believed. Despite his attempt to help God, we're told, in producing an offspring for the promise, despite that, he still, he believed, we're told.

He believed that God would give him a son. He believed that the families of the earth, all the families of the earth, would be blessed through his offspring. He believed that their offspring would be given a land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land that he himself will not receive. But over time, he learned to trust in God. He learned to walk by faith and not by sight, because as he grew in his spiritual maturity, he grew to understand it wasn't about the things in this world.

Beloved, what a lesson to learn. It's not about the things in this world for Abraham, but about the relationship he can have, which is the highest blessing with a faithful covenant keeping God. Abraham believed and he set his eyes and his heart on the things from above. Listen to how Hebrews 11 puts it. These all died in faith, speaking of Abraham and Sarah, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land which they had gone out, they would have had the opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them. a city."

Beloved, did you hear that? They were strangers and exiles on the earth. Why? Because Abraham knew in the heart of hearts that his true inheritance was a heavenly one. Listen, for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

Abraham was a man of faith. His concern wasn't for the land, but to follow God by faith. And the true blessing is that God of glory, as Stephen says, will be with him always and wherever he went. You see, this will be the major theme running through Stephen's sermon, that God is not confined to a particular place or location. We'll see that soon.

He is wherever his people are. And Abraham had to learn that truth. In all of his journeys and the many years of his travels, God proved to be faithful, that God was with him wherever he went. Beloved, even when he went to the pagan lands, like the land of Gerar or the land of Egypt, even when Abraham sinned before God and he deceived both those kings and told them both in different occasions that Sarah is his sister. The Lord was even then with them.

The Lord was even then protecting them. The Lord was even then faithful to fulfill his promise, even in pagan lands, despite their sin. We need to remember that. God is faithful despite the sin of his people. Of course, of course, in the time Abraham At the same time, he did see a partial fulfillment of the promise because he saw that his wife actually bore him a son.

His wife, Sarah, bore him a son. And he named him Isaac. And then his son, Isaac, bore a son and his name was Jacob. And of course, as Stephen tells us, Jacob, his sons were the patriarchs. Let's continue in our text from verse nine.

And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt, but God was with him ten, and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. You see, again, we have the concept that God was with. his people. But he was not in the land. That is, Joseph wasn't in the land promised to Abraham and promised to Isaac and promised to Jacob.

He'd already been sold by his jealous brothers because they didn't want him around anymore. And so he was taken to Egypt. Egypt was a pagan, idolatrous nation. So in a place like that, No, no, not at all. Because on multiple occasions in Genesis, we read these words, and the Lord was with Joseph.

God is with his people wherever they go. This is a resounding ring to the ears of the Sanhedrin Jews before Stephen. They ought to hear this, that God is with his people no matter where they go. Not only in the land of Israel, but wherever they go. And he was with Joseph, even though Joseph was not in the land promised to Abraham or Isaac or Jacob, but he was in a pagan land, a pagan idol worshiping land by the name of Egypt.

But God was with Joseph. There is no geographical boundaries for where God is. Beloved brothers and sisters, this is the glorious truth that we as Christians rejoice always and forever that God is always with his people no matter where they go. Always with his people. no matter where they go.

Realize how we're told that Joseph was sold into Egypt because his brothers were jealous. The word jealousy here is actually the same root word as used to describe the attitude of the high priests and the Sadducees towards the apostles teaching back only a couple of chapters in chapter 5. These are indeed actually the same men, because the high priest is here and the Sadducees, that are standing before Stephen now and accusing him of these heinous crimes. Beloved, There are many illusions in this sermon of Stephen to indict the Jews with the same evil actions of their forefathers. And I believe, I believe this is one.

because they're displaying an attitude of jealousy, just like the brothers, the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph. So what we're starting to see is some similarities, some similarities between their forefathers and their attitude even now. And this is what Stephen is building upon during this seventh chapter in his speech and his sermon to the Sanhedrin. Secondly, we have to keep an eye out for the major point in his speech that is relating to the rejection of God's chosen ones. You see, throughout history, God has sent his chosen prophets, but the stubborn people have a long history also of persecution and persecuting and rejecting those prophets.

Stephen will bring that out towards the end of his sermon, but here we see that Joseph was a man chosen by God and he was rejected. by his brothers. They were jealous. They were jealous of Joseph. They were jealous of their father's love for Joseph.

They were jealous and agitated by the dreams of Joseph. Nonetheless, Joseph was God's chosen. And they rejected this Joseph. They sold their own brother to million traders. They told their father that he was dead.

but all according to God's sovereign plan. And that plan, beloved, was to save his covenant people who otherwise would have been lost, who otherwise would have died of starvation. You see, God had a plan even through the sin of evil brothers such as this. And despite the patriarch's attempt to get rid of their brother, we know that God in His sovereignty was fulfilling His promise, even by looking after and being with Joseph in a pagan land of Egypt. Verse 11, now there came a famine throughout the throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our father could find no food.

But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out the fathers on their first visit. And on their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, 75 persons in all, And Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, he and his fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for the sum of silver from the sons of Hanor in Shechem." What a subject lesson for the Jews. Firstly, that he's proven he's no blasphemer.

He's proven he's no blasphemer against God. He's honored God and he's exalted God of glory. And his God is the God of Abraham as written in scriptures. the very scriptures that obviously he'd spent hours, countless hours reading and studying and meditating upon. And Stephen's already now made known to them that their father Abraham is his father Abraham.

But also, that Abraham was a man of faith. He didn't live by the things he saw, he lived by faith. His relationship with God was on the top of the list. His love for God was what compelled him to trust in God, even though he could not see the things that God had promised, which is a far cry, a very far cry of the now Jewish establishment in all their rules and their legalism in Jerusalem. This cold, lifeless religion is what they stood for and they did not even know it.

They're all about to do this. They're all about doing that. It's in the do's and the don'ts for the Jewish establishment in the first century. But Abraham, Abraham was different. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him righteousness.

Unlike them, his heart was on the spiritual realities, the heavenly blessings and not the earthly ones. And despite the patriarch's jealousy and their rejection of Joseph, God was with him even in the pagan land. You see, this is the beginning, I believe, of the indictment that's starting to come out of Stephen against the Jews in the Sanhedrin. But you know, they don't yet I don't think they yet see that this is referring to them, because they're probably agreeing with much of what Stephen is saying at this point. But before the end of the sermon, they will know.

They will know what Stephen is saying. They'll know that he's looking squarely at them in the eyes and he's saying to them that they are no different, no different to their forefathers. That like their forefathers who have a long history of rejecting God's chosen one, that the final rejection of theirs is possibly, which was possibly only months earlier, is the most damning of them all. Because the Jews that are standing before Stephen, even now, have rejected the Saviour. Now the next section is from verses 17 through 44, and it has the second charge in view, and that is the charge against Moses and the law.

So let's look down at verse 17. But as the time of the promise drew near, which God has granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18, until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race, neither our, our race, and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would be kept alive. At this time, Moses was born and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house.

And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was might or mighty in his word and his deeds. You see, we know the story. The evil Pharaoh was threatened by the Israelites. Why?

Because God was with them. That's why. Because God was with them even in Egypt. We're told in Exodus that they grew great in number and were very prosperous even in Egypt. So what was the solution in Pharaoh's mind?

What was the solution to his insecurity? It was to get rid of them. by killing their baby boys to stop the increase, to stop the blessing of procreation because God had already promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their descendants will be more numerous than the sand of the seashore or the stars of the sky. So Pharaoh tried to stop their procreation. But God is faithful to his promises, beloved.

He's faithful to the covenant he made to Abraham. He's faithful to the covenant he made to Isaac and the covenant he made to Jacob. And so he raises up Moses to redeem his people from bondage. Now, I need to ask you, does the way Stephen speak of Moses have even a hint of blasphemy against the prophet? No, of course not.

These are false, false accusations. He describes this Moses as beautiful in God's eyes or in God's sight. He's honoring this man as beautiful in God's eyes or sight and a man with all the wisdom of the Egyptians. That's not a bad thing, beloved. This was the superpower in his day.

And Moses was brought up with the wisdom of the Egyptians. He's not speaking about his religion. No, he's speaking about the practical things. Stephen is certainly not anti-Moses. He's honoring the chosen prophet that God has sent to redeem his people.

You need to remember that. That's refuted. 23, when he was 40 years old, that's Moses, he came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptians. He supposed that his brother would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not.

Understand? And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and try to reconcile them saying, men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside saying, let's thrust Moses aside. Who made you ruler and judge over us?

Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? And at this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. You see, Moses was a man raised up by God. He was chosen and had the favor of God upon him. And he was chosen to be the one to redeem the people from their slavery in Egypt, just as God had promised Abraham way back some 500 years earlier.

And Moses proves his zeal to these people and his love for them by killing an Egyptian. Why? Because he had mistreated a Hebrew man. He's all for the cause of his fellow Hebrews, the fellow Israelites. Was it not clear that he was for his people?

Do these oppressed people who had been crying out for redemption for centuries now, Did they receive him? Did they receive him as a deliverer and receive him and welcome him with open arms? Did they rejoice and give thanks to God for finally answering their prayer and sending a Redeemer to rescue them from the bondage that they've been experiencing and enduring for over four centuries? No. Just like the patriarchs in their jealousy rejected God's chosen Joseph, so too they revile and they reject Moses.

When he attempts to bring peace among them, they say, who made you ruler and judge over us? So what does Moses end up doing? Well, they know what he did. Killed the man and buried him in the sand, so he ends up fleeing to Midian. But beloved, even there.

Even in Midian, God was with him. How do we know? Let's read from verse 30. Now, when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight.

And as he drew near to look, there came the voice of God. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses trembled and did not dare look. Then the Lord said to him, take off your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Stop there.

Take off your sandals for this is holy ground. Brothers and sisters, where is Moses? Is he in Jerusalem? No. He's at Mount Horeb and we know also Mount Horeb is otherwise known as Mount Sinai.

Beloved, what's so holy about this mountain? What's so holy about this parcel of land in this region? What makes it so holy? But it's the manifest presence of God. That's why he was commanded by God to take his sandals off.

It's because God is holy and God is there. You see, the Jews before Stephen right now think that Jerusalem is the holy city and the holy ground is the temple space. But beloved, it's not the land. It's not the rocks. It's not the mortar.

And it's not the stones that are holy. It's the presence of God who is holy. They have made an idol of things and they put aside him who is holy. You see the Sanhedrin accuse Stephen of speaking against the holy place, but he Moses is on holy ground and yet not the temple is nowhere in sight. It's not the temple structure that is holy, but God.

And if God says, consecrate for me, then that becomes holy, because he is holy. And I'm afraid at this time, the Jews had made the building their idol. It's clear, we've seen this. The Jews had made their religion their idol. Jews had made the Jews and don'ts their idol.

The focus was on the worship of the things and the institution and the religion, rather than the worship of God who is holy. Holy, holy. Verse 34. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.

35. This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, who made you a ruler and judge? This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared in him in the bush. This man led them out performing wonders and signs in Egypt, signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. Despite your fathers, Stephen is saying, despite their rejection of Moses initially when he presented himself, he had the blessing and the favor of God.

He was the one chosen by God to return back to Egypt and to liberate his people. Because God always, always keeps his promises. And so Moses, Moses is the instrument that God uses to free Israelites or Israel by his mighty hand through supernatural wonders. And you all know the story hasn't been that long since we went through the book of Exodus. Verse 37, this is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And with our fathers, he received the living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey them, but thrust him aside and in their hearts, they turned to Egypt. 40, saying to Aaron, make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us from the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him.

And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. Did you bring me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your God, Raphan, the images that you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon." Judgment.

You know, we've seen the charge of blasphemy against God refuted by Stephen. against Moses, the charge they made against him, that's now being refuted also. And now from verse 37, we see the charge that stands, or that they've accused him of, and that is the charge that he speaks against the law, and this is clearly refuted. Because on that mount, we're told Moses received the law. which certainly forms part of the living oracles from the Lord.

That is, the living words of God. Our God is a living God. His words are also living and abiding and breathing, as we're told in 1 Peter 1. Let it be the rule of faith and conduct for its people. He is the Creator God and he gives his rules.

He gives his instructions. He gives his living word for his people to live and abide by. You see, Moses was a prophet of God and thus spoke the words of God. Beloved, we need to realize that the prophet's words and the law that God had given Moses to give to the people have their origin in God himself from the very being of God and are living just as God is living. They therefore must be obeyed and honored as God is obeyed because they come from his mouth.

However, however, their forefathers were told thrust Moses aside. That's not a gentle move aside, Moses. That's a get out of our way, Moses. And they thrust aside the instruction and the law that was given to him to give to the people. They did all that.

And while Moses was on the Mount before God at Sinai, receiving the 10 words, 10 commandments, They willfully disobeyed God and His word. And their hearts were told, were turned back to the pagan wickedness of Egypt. But they willfully, willfully disobeyed God. What did they say to Aaron? They said, make for us a God from gold who will go before us, Aaron.

We don't know where this Moses is. We don't know what's come of him. He's been up on the mountain for so long. Make us a God that we can see with our eyes, Aaron. A God we can worship, just like those back in Egypt.

Make us a God like that. You see, this is a heartbreaking thing, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. The people had been rescued from the bondage of Egypt physically. Yes, they're no longer physically in that place. They're no longer physically under the hard treatment, the burden of being slaves to the Egyptians.

But their hearts were still in Egypt. You can only go so far on human will. But in time, the true state of the heart is manifest for what it is. And for these forefathers in the wilderness generation, it wasn't long before it was made known that they desired the earthly things of this world, and they did not have concern for the heavenly things as their father Abraham. They were not people of faith.

Brothers and sisters, don't overlook the words of verse 42. And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and hear this, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. They made a God. They made a God with their own hands and worshiped it. Think about the foolishness of that statement.

They made something with their hands and they began to worship it. And they rejoiced, jumping up and down gleefully at the thing they worship, which was made by human hands. Right at the place where the manifest presence of God Almighty was on Sinai. Is that not incredible to think of? Now, this generation, this wilderness generation for the most part was destroyed by God, but their ancestors were no better.

This type of idolatry continued even after entering into the land promised to them, a land promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the land that is flowing with milk and honey. Even after they entered into the land, we've read the history of Israel. We have it in the Old Testament scripture. and they were no better. They continued to worship pagan idols, just like their neighbors, the neighboring nations that are around them.

So this would continue until God put a stop to it. This will continue until God made them exiles into the land of Babylon, some 900 years after God gave them the law. You see, Stephen has refuted the charge made against him. In relation to God, he's refuted the charge made against him against Moses and the law, because he's upholding the law. Now in verse 44 through 50, the holy place of God, the temple, is now in view.

Our fathers had the tent of witness, in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he has seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they disposed or when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says.

Stop here. That the tabernacle was erected as per instruction given to Moses by our Lord. It hasn't been long since we addressed this in Exodus on our Lord's Day reading. And as we said on many occasions, the tabernacle was a teaching tool for the people of Israel. Yes, it served a purpose in that day.

Certainly, we're still reading the priesthood of that day and how it served a purpose in that generation. But it always pointed to a time of something that is greater than itself. That manifest presence of God was pointing to something greater to come. It was pointing to Jesus Christ, beloved. We know that.

He's the fulfillment of everything the tabernacle stood for. Now, indeed, the manifest presence of God was found in the tabernacle. And then when they entered the promised land in the temple in Jerusalem. Because we saw, as we read through the book of Kings, we know once it's built, we see the manifest presence of God descend on that place. However, anyone who had the right view of the temple would have known that God is not confined to it.

Is not confined to it. The Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, Stephen says. He cannot be confined to a building or a place. In fact, when Solomon built the temple, do you remember what he said when he dedicated the temple in his prayer? He said, but will God indeed dwell on the earth?

Behold, heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, how much less the house that I have built. And now even Stephen quotes Psalm 66 when he reads, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things? Beloved, who can contain the God of the universe?

What happens, for example, when the temple is destroyed? Does God vanish because He has no home to live in? The temple before the Sanhedrin, the one that they're actually now promoting and saying is the holy place of God, that temple is not the Solomon's temple that is spoken of in Scripture. That was destroyed in 586 AD. And it's not even the temple that was built by the returning exiles some 60 years later.

This is the temple that was built and enhanced by King Herod the Great some 50 years before the speech of Stephen. And beloved, that temple would be destroyed too within this generation. It never was about the temple. It never was about the place or the building, but the one who it points to. The true presence of God is now found in the true tabernacle, the true temple of God, the one who became man and tabernacled among his people, the eternal word of God, the eternal son of God, Jesus Christ.

He's the true temple of God. He said, destroy this temple. And in three days, I will raise it up. Speaking of his body. Stephen was not speaking against the temple, but rather he was speaking of Christ, the true temple of the living God.

His presence was never meant to be seen or isolated to a building or a place or a structure that should have been known to the people of God, because throughout history, it was crystal clear with God's dealing with his people. that he was always with them no matter where they were. And we've just been given examples of Abraham. We were given an example of Joseph and given an example of Moses. Wherever they were, all outside the promised land, God was with them.

The manifest presence of God was one among his people. Now, Stephen has made a defense for the allegations against him. He's made that. He's refuted all the allegations, the one that he blasphemed God, he's refuted that he was blaspheming Moses, he's refuted that he blasphemed or spoke against the law, and he's refuted that he spoke against the holy place, the temple of God. All of them proven to be fallacious.

So now, now it gets interesting, because now he turns the table on what he's deemed this supreme court of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin. These are the elites of Jerusalem. And now Stephen turns from defending himself to prosecuting his listeners. Now this, this beloved is bold. This here is absolutely courageous.

Verse 51, you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, 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, whom you have now betrayed and murdered. 53, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. Wow.

This is a massive indictment. Realize how the words of Stephen, as he speaks, he goes from the pronoun, a shared pronoun of our, when he says our fathers, he says our race, to now the accusative you. I can imagine him pointing his finger at the men and saying you. You see, in other words, Stephen's saying we have a lot in common. We have a lot in common.

We both believe in Abraham. We both believe in Jacob. We both believe in Isaac and Jacob. We both believe that he's the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the promises he made will be fulfilled. We believe that there's a lot of commonalities between me and you.

But this is where we separate, Stephen's saying. This is where you're on your own. I'm not with you here. Because I believe the Messiah is the chosen one. But I believe the Messiah is the one pointed towards in all these Old Testament scriptures.

And now I'm convicting you of the most heinous of crimes. You claim to be the people of the circumcision, yet you do not have circumcised hearts. What benefit is your circumcision then? You claim to be people who know God, yet you resist His Holy Spirit. What benefit is your religion then?

And now the rejection of the forefathers that he's been speaking of in his sermon, Joseph rejected, Moses rejected, and those who come after them, their fathers heavily persecuted God's chosen prophets. The Jews before Stephen would look back at these people who condemned or who persecuted the prophets, and no doubt they would condemn them. But Stephen is indicting them with the same. He's saying, you are no different to them. This is you, Stephen is saying.

You're the stiff-necked people. Brothers and sisters, these are learned men who were sitting before Stephen. These are men with big brains, much understanding of the religion, much understanding of Scripture. These are the Sanhedrin. Many had memorized Scripture, as I said before.

They knew that when Stephen called them stiff-necked people, that's the exact same term God used. when he called the rebellious people at the base of Sinai after making the golden calf to worship. The very people that you can guarantee every member of the Sanhedrin would have vehemently condemned right now. Stephen is now accusing this council of the same. You're the idolatrous ones, he's saying.

You are the rejecters of God, God's chosen ones, just like your fathers of old, the very prophets that announced the redeemer of Israel, the very prophets that wrote of the Messiah, their blood is on your head. Don't you dare look back in disgust at the violence of your evil forefathers because you are just as much murderers as they. Wow. Wow, this is very serious. you would have to be filled with the Holy Spirit to speak this way.

In fact, he goes on to say, your sin is even greater than the ones Moses prophesied, because the one that Moses prophesied, the Messiah, the only hope of Israel, you murdered him. And of all the prophets that are murdered at the hands of evil men, this was the worst, because this is the prophet of prophets. This is the Messiah, and you murdered him. You claim to have received and obeyed the law, he says. The living oracles of God.

But let me tell you, the spirit of the living God and the authority in his word, I tell you, pop these things, you are guilty of willfully breaking the law of God. Proving that you do not know God of Abraham. You do not know the God of Joseph. And you do not know the God of Moses, nor are you disciples of Moses as you pride yourself in being. Your religion is empty.

Your religion is empty. Beloved, what an indictment. What a turn of events. Stephen has refuted all the charges against him and now he's laying those same charges at the feet of his accusers. They are the ones who rejected Messiah.

Therefore, they have blasphemed Moses. They blasphemed the law and they blasphemed the temple. For all of these things find their sum and substance in Jesus Christ, whom they have rejected. And they have blasphemed God because they've cursed his only begotten son and condemned him to an unjust death. Jesus himself says, to honor me is to honor the father.

If you dishonor me, you dishonor the father. If you hate me, you hate the father. And even now they are still guilty of blaspheming God, because the good news of Jesus Christ is preached by his apostles and his church, and they continue to reject it. In essence, Stephen is excusing them of uncircumcised hearts. Beloved, which is in essence, he's saying to the Sanhedrin council, you are no better than the Gentiles.

Just imagine that. You are no better than the Gentiles. Don't think because you are so-called Jews living in Jerusalem, don't think for a moment because you've practiced the sign of circumcision, don't think because you live in the place where the temple exists that you are special, because before God, hear this, before God and as far as God is concerned, you're pagan Gentiles. So what do you think their response was? 54, and when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens open 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. 58, then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of the young man named Saul.

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, the 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 said this, he fell asleep, of course, meaning he died. What was the response of the Sanhedrin? Rage.

absolute uncontrolled rage is what's being witnessed here. An anger against God himself. They gnash their teeth and when they hear him speak, that is Stephen, when they hear him speak of seeing the son of man, that is Christ at the right hand of the father, they plug their ears, they drag him outside the city and they stone him to death. Beloved, the indictments The words of Stephen against these men, the fact that he stood them in the face boldly with filled with the Holy Spirit and said, this is you, you have uncircumcised hearts. Beloved may sound harsh, but indeed was grace.

This is grace. It was a warning of their wickedness and an opportunity for them to repent because he was telling them you are self deceived. But the response of these men is the same as their unbelieving fathers, and it was to reject and treat shamefully God's chosen. They plug their ears. We've heard enough, they say.

We've made our minds as to what is good and evil. We know what is true religion. We don't need to hear another word from you, Stephen. pride, proud, rebellious hearts that condemned them to hell. So they manifest their hatred to Christ by stoning the one speaking the words of Christ.

But a death befitting blasphemy. They didn't buy, they didn't buy Stephen's defense. It was the Lord's will to cast this judgment upon Jerusalem, a city condemned. But I'll end with this. There are many parallels in the life of Stephen and in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe Luke has written in a way an inspiration of the Holy Spirit for us to see these parallels. I simply didn't have the time to go down that path this evening because of time. There's much that we left on the table. But just to name or list a few, But both were fully aware of, both were fully, my apologies, both were full of grace and power. Both possessed irrefutable wisdom, we're told.

Both were full of the spirit. Both had faces that shone like angels. Both falsely accused of blasphemy. Both brought before the council, which is a Sanhedrin. Both were killed unjustly at the hand of the so-called religious leaders of the day.

Both were gracious. in their death to those who killed them, and both had heaven open at the time of their death. It's the last one I wanna meditate upon just for a couple of minutes, and this is where I want to end. It's simple, and it's a concise point that I wanna share with you, because as I studied this passage, this is a point that really moved me. You see, when Stephen was dying, heaven opened, And he saw the Savior.

He saw Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of the Father. What a glorious sight. And the Son of Man was standing ready to receive his faithful servant into glory. If you're going to die as a martyr, in my view, that's a glorious way to die. Jesus standing there to receive you in your death.

But brothers and sisters, on the cross of Calvary, when our Lord hung there dying for you and for I, it was a different story. You see, he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And yes, heaven did open, but not for the same reason, Stephen. It opened in order for the full brunt of the fury of the wrath of God to be poured out upon the sinless, perfect, righteous, pure lamb of God. It was poured out for Jesus to swallow up, to drink up the judgment of God.

That's what he bore for us on that cross. Sadly, the Jews before Stephen that day refused to believe this truth, but that's what he bore for us on that cross. He bore the unbearable, and we could never even begin to imagine what he went through. It's heartbreaking to see Stephen die in this way. It's heartbreaking to see any martyr die in this way.

But beloved, what Christ bore for us and the death he died, there is no comparison that is humanly conceivable. So I pray. I pray for you and I who have been given to believe this Jesus as Messiah, as Saviour, as the one sent by God. And we have not refused him because he's given us hearts to believe. I pray that we will never forget what it costs for our sins to be forgiven and for us to be reconciled to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

Amen. Let's pray.